j)att,  Sc&affner  & 
flrt^e  (Economic 


THE  CAUSE  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  RECENT  INDUS- 
TRIAL PROGRESS  OF  GERMANY.  By  Earl  D.  Howard. 

THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  PANIC  OF  1893.  By  William  J. 
Lauck. 

INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION.  By  Harlow  Stafford  Person, 
Ph.D. 

FEDERAL  REGULATION  OF  RAILWAY  RATES.  By  Al- 
bert N.  Merritt,  Ph.D. 

S  H I P  S  U  B  S I D I E  S.  An  Economic  Study  of  the  Policy  of  Sub- 
sidizing Merchant  Marines.  By  Walter  T.  Dunmore. 

SOCIALISM:  A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS.     By  O.  D.  Skelton. 

INDUSTRIAL  ACCIDENTS  ANDTHEIR  COMPENSATION. 
By  Gilbert  L.  Campbell,  B.  S. 

THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  AMONG  THE  INDUSTRIAL 
PEOPLE  OF  AMERICA.  By  Frank  H.  Streightoff. 

THE    NAVIGABLE   RHINE.    By  Edwin  J.  Clapp. 

HISTORY  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  CRIMINAL  STATIS- 
TICS IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  By  Louis  Newton 
Robinson. 

SOCIAL  VALUE.    By  B.  M.  Anderson,  Jr. 
FREIGHT  CLASSIFICATION.    By  J.  F.  Strombeck. 

WATERWAYS  VERSUS  RAILWAYS.  By  Harold  Glenn 
Moulton. 

THE  VALUE  OF  ORGANIZED  SPECULATION.  By  Harri- 
son H.  Brace. 

INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION:  ITS  PROBLEMS,  METHODS 
AND  DANGERS.  By  Albert  H.  Leake. 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


& 


XV 

INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION:  ITS  PROBLEMS, 
METHODS,  AND  DANGERS 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ITS  PROBLEMS,  METHODS 

AND  DANGERS 


BT 


ALBERT  H.  LEAKE 

F| 

INSPECTOR  OF  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION, 
ONTARIO,  CANADA 


BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 
ttifcetffte  Jtygft  Cambribge 


L.C.  io 
L3 


COPYRIGHT,  1913,  BY  HART,  SCHAFFNER  *  MARX 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


PREFACE 

THIS  series  of  books  owes  its  existence  to  the  generosity  of 
Messrs.  Hart,  Sehaffner  &  Marx,  of  Chicago,  who  have 
shown  a  special  interest  in  trying  to  draw  the  attention  of 
American  youth  to  the  study  of  economic  and  commercial 
subjects.  For  this  purpose  they  have  delegated  to  the 
undersigned  committee  the  task  of  selecting  or  approving 
of  topics,  making  announcements,  and  awarding  prizes 
annually  for  those  who  wish  to  compete. 

For  the  year  ending  June  1,  1912,  there  were  offered:  — 

In  Class  A,  which  included  any  American  without 
restriction,  a  first  prize  of  $1000,  and  a  second  prize  of  $500. 

In  Class  B,  which  included  any  who  were  at  the  time 
undergraduates  of  an  American  college,  a  first  prize  of 
$300,  and  a  second  prize  of  $200. 

Any  essay  submitted  in  Class  B,  if  deemed  of  sufficient 
merit,  could  receive  a  prize  in  Class  A. 

The  present  volume,  submitted  in  Class  A,  was  awarded 
the  first  prize  in  that  class. 

J.  LAURENCE  LAUGHLIN,  Chairman. 
University  of  Chicago. 

J.  B.  CLARK, 

Columbia  University. 

HENRY  C.  ADAMS, 

University  of  Michigan. 
HORACE  WHITE, 

New  York  City. 
EDWIN  F.  GAY, 

Harvard  University. 


288939 


CONTENTS 

PART  I.    THE  PROBLEMS 

I.    INTRODUCTION 

Antiquity  of  the  subject.  —  1645,  Plans  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester. 

—  1676,  "How  to  Outdo  the  Dutch  without  Fighting."  —  1691, 
Plans  of  President  Leonard  Hoar  of  Cambridge.  —  Locke's  plan 
to  counteract  the  spread  of  pauperism.  —  1796,  Pitt's  bills  to  the 
same  effect.  — Present-day  discussions  and  publications.  —  Indefi- 
nite idea  of  terms  used.  —  Time   to  take  stock.  —  Every  man 
considers  himself  a  competent  critic  of  educational  affairs.  —  In-  **• 
dustrial  education  a  popular  subject.  —  Ephemeral  character  of 
educational  propaganda.  —  Investigations   and  commissions.  — 
Need    for    definiteness.  —  Economic     losses.  —  Education    not 
democratic.  —  Various  problems  on  which  silence  is  maintained. 

—  The  problem  of  the  unskilled  worker.  —  The  problem  of  the 
small  town.  —  Lack  of  parental  influence  and  guidance.  —  Popu-    — 
lar  conception  of  industry  shown  by  the  use  of  the  term  "indus- 
trial." —  Definitions       3 

II.    THE  PROBLEM   IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS 

Ranks  of  artisans  recruited  from  the  elementary  schools.  —  Attend- 
ance at  schools.  —  Compulsion.  —  Raising  the  age.  —  Money 
spent.  —  Reasons  for  pupils  not  entering  the  high  schools.  — 
Unfinished  product.  —  "Repeaters"  and  their  cause.  —  Obstacles 
in  the  way  of  dismissing  inefficient  teachers.  —  Scarcity  of  men 
teachers.  —  Reducing  the  supply  of  adolescent  labor.  —  Indus- 
trial education  has  its  roots  in  the  primary  schools.  —  Manual 
training  never  given  a  fair  chance.  —  Art  and  drawing  in  the 
schools.  —  Household  science.  —  Evening  schools.  —  Limited  use 
of  educational  equipment.  —  Three  classes  of  towns  to  be  provided 
for.  —  Parents'  dislike  of  industrial  occupations  for  their  boys. — 
Indifference  of  the  average  parent.  —  Who  decides  whether  a  boy 
shall  leave  school?  —  Lack  of  parental  authority. — The  boy's  ideas 
regarding  industry.  —  Reasons  for  leaving  school.  —  Juvenile 
delinquents.  —  The  drifting  of  Adolescents.  —  Decline  and  revival 
of  apprenticeship.  —  The  work  of  the  elementary  schools  could 
be  done  hi  one  less  year.  —  Haphazard  choice  of  occupations.  — 
Investigations  and  commissions.  —  Aims  of  industrial  education. 

—  The  different  phases  of  the  question  stated 12 


viii  CONTENTS 


PART  II.    THE  METHODS 

III.    THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  AND  THEIR 
REVITALIZATION 

Putting  the  schools  on  a  business  basis  in  order  that  the  greatest 
possible  return  may  be  secured  from  the  investment.  —  Tests  to  be 
applied.  —  Reorganization  of  the  course  of  study  with  a  view  of 
giving  a  direct  industrial  trend  both  to  the  instruction  given  and 
to  the  mind  of  the  boy.  —  School  and  work  are  not  synonymous 
terms.  —  All  difficulties  are  carefully  removed.  —  Wheedling  the 
child  into  knowledge.  —  A  race  incapable  of  doing  disagreeable 
things.  —  Time  available.  —  Extension  of  the  school  day.  — 
Secret  of  European  success.  —  Industrial  method  applied  to 
various  subjects:  reading,  writing,  composition,  arithmetic,  sci- 
ence, geography,  history.  —  Work  outside  school.  —  Changes  in 
methods  arising  out  of  the  revised  curriculum.  —  Handwork. — 
Library.  —  Trade  information.  —  Continued  education  and  choice 
of  trade.  —  Visits  to  factories  and  industrial  schools.  —  Freedom 
to  local  authorities.  —  Visual  instruction.  —  Moving  pictures.  — 
Vital  statistics.  —  Training  teachers.  —  Foundation  for  voca- 
tional training.  —  Compulsion 43 


IV.  MANUAL  TRAINING:  ITS  SUCCESSES,   ITS  FAILURES, 

AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION   IN   RESPONSE 

TO  PRESENT   CONDITIONS 

I  Unsuitability  and  indefiniteness  of  the  name.  —  Many  kinds  of  hand 
training.  —  Manual  training  high  schools.  —  Exaggerated  ideas. 

—  Not  taken  seriously  by  the  people.  —  Grounds  of  its  advocacy. 

—  Manual   and   industrial    training.  —  Cultural   and   practical 
value  of  manual  training.  —  Educational  tradition  and  opposition. 

—  Never  an  integral  part  of  the  curriculum.  —  Unreal  and  re- 
stricted character  of  the  work.  —  Development  of  the  manual 
training  course  of  study.  —  Too  much  restricted  to  work  in  wood. 

—  Ability  of  the  teachers  employed.  —  Ontario  regulations  for 
training  teachers.  —  Claims  failed  to  materialize.  —  Indifference 
of  the  grade  teachers.  —  Value  of  time  and  material.  —  Differences 
between  school  and  shop.  —  Dollars  and  cents.  —  A  cost  check.  — 
Cooperative  or  community  work.  —  Industrial  education  reacting 
on    manual    training.  —  Household    science.  —  Housewifery. — 
More  practical  methods 59 


CONTENTS  ix 

V.  SOME  NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS,  AND  PRINCIPLES 

UNDERLYING  THEIR  ORGANIZATION 

AND  MANAGEMENT 

Modernizing  existing  types  and  building  on  the  achievements  of  the 
past.  —  A  good  citizen  must  be  able  to  earn  a  living.  —  "How  to 
live"  and  "How  to  make  a  living"  intimately  related.  —  Present 
high  schools  do  not  meet  the  needs  of  eighty  per  cent  of  the  children 
leaving  the  elementary  schools.  —  Objections  to  grading  or  sorting 
children.  —  General  and  special  industrial  school.  —  Rochester 
Factory  School.  —  Industrial  method  of  treatment  of  subjects.  — 
Length  of  school  day  increased  to  eight  hours.  —  Taking  boys  into 
works  before  conclusion  of  the  course.  —  Approval  of  the  American  — -*• 
Federation  of  Labor  of  such  a  school.  —  Specialization  in  the  third 
year.  —  These  schools  not  to  be  regarded  as  "cities  of  refuge."  — 
Compulsion  necessary.  —  Scholarship  and  maintenance  allow- 
ances of  the  London  County  Council.  —  Disposal  of  product.  — 
The  plan  followed  in  the  Rochester  Factory  School  and  the  Newton 
Independent  Industrial  School.  —  Cooperation  of  all  interests.  — 
Cost.  —  Obligations  of  the  State.  —  Amount  spent  in  luxuries.  — 
Assistance  by  Federal  Governments.  —  The  public  will  have  these 
schools  when  they  are  willing  to  pay  for  them 75 


VI.  VARIOUS  PROBLEMS   RELATING  TO  SUPPLEMEN- 
TARY EDUCATION  IN  DAY  AND  EVENING 
CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS 

Self-deception  in  regard  to  evening  schools.  —  Fascination  of  num- 
bers. —  Attendance.  —  Defects  of  evening  schools.  —  Defects  can 
be  remedied.  —  Compulsory  continuation  schools.  —  The  eight- 
hour  day.  —  The  student.  —  Letter  sent  to  pupils  on  leaving  the 
elementary  school  (Rochdale).  —  Employers  required  to  report  the 
employment  of  adolescents.  —  Attitude  of  employer.  —  Expert 
guidance  as  to  courses  to  be  taken.  —  Classification.  —  Curricu- 
lum. —  Method  of  subject  treatment.  —  Reasons  for  discontinu- 
ance of  attendance.  —  Lack  of  elementary  knowledge.  —  Diverse 
conditions  to  be  taken  into  account.  —  Demand  for  subjects  that 
cannot  be  obtained  in  the  shops.  —  The  teacher.  —  Academic  and 
industrial  teaching.  —  The  teacher  from  the  shop.  —  Normal 
schools  for  training  industrial  teachers.  —  Advertising.  —  Fees.  — 
Why  only  open  for  six  months.  —  Social  as  well  as  educational  cen- 
tres. —  Small  classes.  —  Individual  instruction.  —  Looking  after 
absentees.  —  Printed  notes  of  lessons.  —  Textbooks.  —  The  one 
industry  town.  —  Small  towns  with  a  large  number  of  industries: 
Montrose.  —  The  large  city:  Leeds  and  Manchester. — Advisory 


;  CONTENTS 

committees.  —  Two  aspects  of  the  education  given.  —  Members 
of  trustee  boards  not  educational  experts.  —  Correspondence 
schools:  University  of  Wisconsin,  National  Typographical  Union. 
—  Cooperation  between  small  towns.  —  Traveling  schools.  — 
Schools  for  those  unemployed  during  the  winter.  —  Trade  and 
industrial  museums.  —  A  problem  with  no  single  solution  .  .  93 


VII.  APPRENTICESHIP 

Apprenticeship  said  to  be  dead.  —  Only  partially  true.  —  Appren- 
ticeship under  the  guilds.  —  The  revival  of  guilds  in  Germany  and 
Austria.  —  Trade  unionists  should  be  expert  craftsmen.  —  Func- 
tions of  guilds.  —  Regulations  for  apprentices.  —  Fortunate  for 
the  worker  that  the  old  system  has  passed.  —  Inadequacy  of  old 
instruction.  —  Reasons  for  its  decline:  growth  of  population, 
development  of  machinery,  subdivision  of  labor,  disinclination  of 
employers  and  journeymen  to  take  and  teach  apprentices.  —  Dis- 
inclination of  boy  to  be  bound. — Length  of  time  required. — Steal- 
ing a  trade.  —  Trades  in  which  apprenticeship  cannot  be  adopted. 
—  Skilled  labor  nearly  superfluous.  —  Instruction  for  the  one- 
process  man.  —  Apprenticeship  for  the  "specialist."  —  Status  of 
the  apprentice.  —  An  efficient  system  of  apprenticeship  distin- 
guished by  careful  selection  of  apprentices,  the  trade  to  be  the  free 
choice  of  the  apprentice,  wages  paid  to  be  mutually  satisfactory, 
adequate  instruction  given,  length  of  period  just  sufficient  to  ac- 
complish the  end  desired,  regular  progress  through  the  shop,  a 
matter  of  Government  regulation:  Germany,  Switzerland,  Wis- 
consin. —  Control  of  apprentices  outside  working  hours.  —  Gov- 
ernment aid  to  approved  schools  •  •• 127 


VIII.  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

Success  of  industrial  education  depends  on  a  wise  choice  of  occupa- 
tion.— Two  types  of  organizations,  "Apprenticeship  and  Skilled 
Employment  Associations"  and  "Vocation  Bureaus."  —  Plan  of 
the  English  organization.  —  Supervision  outside  working  hours. 
—  Inquiry  into  prospects  and  conditions  of  different  trades. 
National  Conference  on  Vocational  Guidance.  —  The  plan  in  New 
York  high  schools.  —  The  system  needed  in  the  elementary 
schools.  —  Organization  in  Boston.  —  Specimen  of  bulletin  issued 
on  "The  Machinist."  —  Record  cards.  —  Report  of  Boston  School 
Committee.  —  Present  status  of  the  movement  ....  149 


IX.  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

Education  of  the  parent  necessary.  —  Interests  of  employers  in 
industrial  education  suspected  by  organized  labor.  —  Age  of  six- 


CONTENTS  xi 

teen  for  entry  into  industry  questioned.  —  Choice  of  a  trade  should 
be  made  earlier.  —  Being  too  prosperous.  —  Increased  earning 
capacity  arising  from  industrial  training:  Baron  de  Hirsch  Trade 
School.  —  School  of  Printing,  Boston.  —  Mutual  duties  of  em- 
ployer and  employee.  —  Economic  losses  arising  from  inefficiency. 

—  More  stability  required  in  the  boy.  —  Industrial  elasticity. 

—  Skilled  labor  essential .      .  163 


PART   III.    THE   DANGERS 

X.   DANGERS  ARISING   FROM  THE   MISINTERPRETATION 
OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS,  AND  OTHER  CAUSES 

Elaborate  buildings  and  costly  equipment.  —  Universal  use  of  Ger- 
many as  an  illustration.  —  German  view  of  educational  systems. 
—  Mistakes  and  misconceptions.  —  American  trade  schools  and 
German  trade  schools  not  the  same.  —  The  German  State  does 
not  teach  trades. —  Schools  for  apprentices. — Schools  for  journey- 
men.—  Purpose  of  each. —  Specimen  courses  of  study. —  Prepara- 
tory courses. —  Handwerkerschule  not  a  school  where  handwork  is 
taught.  —  Apprenticeship  system  largely  the  secret  of  German 
success. — No  attempt  to  teach  skill. — German  criticisms  of  their 
own  system.  —  The  American  is  not  German 175 

APPENDIX  A.  RESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  NATIONAL  ASSO- 
CIATION OP  MANUFACTURERS  OP  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OP  AMERICA,  MAY  21,  1912  .  .  .193 

APPENDIX  B.   LIST  OP  AUTHORITIES  CONSULTED  .      .      .      .196 
INDEX  .  199 


PART  I 
THE  PROBLEMS 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ITS  PROBLEMS,  METHODS 
AND  DANGERS 

I 

INTRODUCTION 

No  matter  how  far  back  we  go  in  educational  history  and 
literature,  it  is  impossible  to  find  a  period  when  the  prob- 
lems of  industrial  education  were  not  with  us.  True  the 
subject  did  not  always  appear  under  that  special  name,  nor 
did  it  wear  the  clothes  in  which  it  is  garbed  to-day,  but  it 
was  there  nevertheless. 

In  1645,  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  while  imprisoned  in 
the  Tower  of  London  and  working  on  his  steam  and  water 
engines,  saw  a  vacant  lot,  from  the  window,  and  gave  in- 
structions to  his  agent  for  its  purchase,  intending,  as  soon 
as  he  was  set  at  liberty,  "to  erect  a  school  wherein  boys 
might  learn  something  of  the  principles  of  the  mechanic 
arts."  Unfortunately  the  opportunity  was  never  given  to 
him  to  put  his  plans  into  operation. 

In  1676,  there  was  published  in  England  a  book  entitled 
"How  to  Outdo  the  Dutch  without  Fighting,"  by  Andrew 
Yarranton.  The  author  says :  — 

Inasmuch  as  we  cannot  fight  on  the  seas  as  our  boats  are  inferior 
to  those  of  the  Dutch,  if  we  are  to  exist  at  all  we  must  sharpen  the 
wits  of  our  people. 

He  points  out  that  "  Mechanics  Universities  "  had  existed 
for  many  years  in  Germany  and  Holland,  and  counsels  the 
securing  of  teachers  from  those  countries. 

Get  a  good  man  from  Freiburg  to  put  us  in  the  way  of  making 
tapes,  and  bring  over  two  engines,  one  for  narrow  and  one  for 


i  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

broad  tapes  with  wheels  to  spin.  Send  for  one  man  to  Dort  in 
Holland  to  put  us  in  the  way  of  treating  the  fine  threads,  and  for 
a  spinning  mistress  from  Germany  to  govern  the  little  maids,  and 
instruct  them  in  the  art  of  spinning,  for  a  man  from  Haarlem  in 
Holland  to  whiten  your  tapes  and  threads ;  and  if  you  do  this  you  will 
become  masters  of  it  as  Manchester  is  in  all  the  things  it  trades  in. 

In  the  same  year  Chief  Justice  Hale  recommended  to 
Parliament  the  establishment  of  an  industrial  school  in 
every  parish. 

President  Leonard  Hoar,  of  Cambridge,  in  a  letter  to 
Robert  Boyle,  who  died  in  1691,  said:  — 

I  would  have  a  large,  well-sheltered  garden  and  orchard  for  stu- 
dents addicted  to  planting;  an  ergasterium  for  mechanical  fan- 
cies, and  a  laboratory  chemical  for  those  philosophers  that  by 
their  senses  would  cultivate  their  understanding,  for  the  students 
to  spend  their  times  of  recreation  at  them;  for  reading  or  notions 
are  but  husky  provender. 

Two  centuries  afterwards  came  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  connection  with  Harvard 
University  (1847). 

In  1705,  Locke  laid  before  the  English  Parliament  a  plan 
to  counteract  the  spread  of  pauperism  by  the  establish- 
ment of  labor  schools  in  each  parish.  The  bill  failed,  as  did 
one  to  the  same  effect  proposed  by  Pitt  in  1796. 

The  wave  of  discussion  which  passed  over  the  educa- 
tional world  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago  is  as  applicable 
to-day  as  it  was  then,  if  we  substitute  the  term  "industrial 
education"  for  "manual  training."  During  the  past  ten 
years  particularly,  the  subject  seems  to  have  been  discussed 
from  all  points  of  view,  in  the  press,  on  the  platform,  and 
even  in  those  pulpits  which  do  not  usually  concern  them- 
selves with  the  things  of  this  world. 

A  large  number  of  books  have  been  issued  and  the 
available  literature  is  constantly  growing,  but  unfortu- 
nately the  discussions  and  publications  do  not  reach  those 
to  whom  they  are  calculated  to  be  of  most  benefit.  They 
are  read  and  discussed  only  by  students  of  education,  and 


INTRODUCTION  5 

those  who  are  already  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  the 
adoption  of  some  adequate  form  of  industrial  training — 
a  case  very  largely  of  preaching  to  the  converted. 

In  this  flood  of  discussion  we  are  in  danger  of  losing 
sight  of  the  possible  and  the  practical  and  are  getting 
perilously  close  to  theories  and  schemes  which  if  not 
checked  and  turned  will  lead  to  disaster  rather  than  to 
success. 

In  spite  of  the  widespread  propaganda,  few  have  any 
distinct  idea  of  what  they  mean  when  they  use  the  term 
"industrial  education"  or  "technical  education,"  or  any 
definite  opinion  as  to  those  who  are  to  be  chiefly  benefited 
by  it,  or  when  it  ought  to  be  acquired,  or  how  it  can  be 
introduced. 

In  the  public  consideration  of  any  question  the  trend 
of  thought  seems  to  revolve  around  a  central  point,  and 
there  comes  a  time  when  it  is  necessary  to  call  a  halt 
and  take  stock  of  the  situation.  Certain  aspects  are  al- 
ways being  insisted  upon,  and  others  equally  or  more  im- 
portant are  ignored.  Incorrect  estimates  are  made,  wrong 
views  are  taken,  and  the  resulting  action  is  foredoomed 
to  failure  and  great  economic  waste. 

Education  is  a  peculiar  business,  and  every  man  con- 
siders himself  an  authority  and  perfectly  capable  of  saying 
how  schools  of  all  kinds  should  be  conducted.  In  allowing 
the  weight  we  do  to  these  often  ill-formed  and  immature 
opinions,  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  the  best  in  our  educa- 
tional systems  has  developed  out  of  experience  and  not  out 
of  mere  discussion.  It  is  true  that  the  man  in  the  street  pro- 
vides the  wherewithal  for  carrying  on  the  work.  It  is  also 
a  recognized  principle  that  "the  man  who  pays  the  piper 
calls  the  tune."  We  have  also  the  right  to  choose  our 
physician;  but  not  many  men  have  the  temerity  to  dictate 
to  him  the  treatment  he  shall  prescribe  or  how  it  shall  be 
administered. 

The  attitude  of  the  public  controls  to  a  very  large 


6  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

extent  the  management  and,  through  the  management, 
the  curriculum,  work,  and  organization  of  our  schools, 
and  only  when  our  people  have  been  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  they  are  not  all  born  experts  on  educational 
affairs,  may  the  teacher  hope  for  freedom  from  igno- 
rant and  captious  criticism.  Let  us  take  Germany  as  an 
illustration  of  a  country  having  a  sane  public  attitude 
towards  educational  affairs.  Public  opinion  there  is  very 
much  like  public  opinion  in  America,  but  with  a  vital  dif- 
ference —  the  German  workman  is  fair  enough  to  believe 
that  some  men  know  more  about  education  than  he  does, 
while  the  American  workman  thinks  he  knows  more  about 
it  than  even  those  who  have  made  it  the  business  of  their 
lives. 

Industrial  education  is  a  popular  subject,  and  it  is  now 
the  predominant  custom  for  all  educationists  to  advocate 
it  whether  they  know  anything  about  it  or  not.  "Assume 
a  virtue  if  you  have  it  not"  seems  to  be  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple, and  many  men  who  have  accomplished  little  or 
nothing  in  other  fields  of  educational  effort  are  achieving 
publicity  and  popularity  in  advocating  this  new  or 
rather  re-born  movement. 

Educational  propaganda  seems  to  run  in  streaks.  "  Phys- 
ical drill,"  "kindergarten,"  "art,"  "manual  training,"  "re- 
ligious education,"  "household  science,"  "sex  hygiene," 
"school  cadets,"  and  now  "industrial  education."  Each 
is  advocated  strongly  for  a  time,  occupies  the  centre  of 
the  stage  in  the  full  glare  of  the  limelight,  and  long  before 
its  full  fruition  is  achieved  some  new  candidate  for  popu- 
lar favor  appears  on  the  scene,  and  the  same  process  is 
repeated.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  industrial  edu- 
cation will  share  a  better  fate  and  that  the  serious  efforts 
now  being  put  forth  will  not  be  relaxed  until  a  general 
system  of  industrial  education,  suitable  to  all  classes  and 
each  locality,  is  achieved. 

Investigations  and  commissions  to  inquire  into  indus- 


INTRODUCTION  7 

trial  education  are  becoming  quite  chronic,  and  no  State  or 
Province  is  considered  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of  educational 
progress  that  does  not  initiate  one  of  them.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  knew  the  salient  features  almost  twenty-five  years 
ago,  and  already  have  much  more  information  than  is  being 
utilized.  If  any  more  investigations  are  to  be  conducted 
or  commissions  issued,  they  should  be  first  from  within  and 
not  from  without;  that  is,  they  should  concern  themselves 
with  conditions  that  have  to  be  met  locally  and  not  those 
that  exist  in  some  country  three  or  four  thousand  miles  off. 
If  ever  industrial  training  is  to  be  economically  justifiable 
and  educationally  beneficial,  we  must  come  down  from  the 
clouds,  be  more  definite  in  our  aims,  accept  conditions  as 
they  are,  while  working  to  improve  them,  and  take  the 
individual  locality  as  the  point  of  attack. 

The  great  problem  of  the  twentieth  century  is  the 
problem  of  reducing  or  eliminating  waste  —  waste  of  time, 
effort,  money,  and  lives.  Economic  losses  through  indus- 
trial inefficiency  and  incapacity  are  beyond  calculation. 
But  probably  in  no  other  phase  of  our  present-day  civili- 
zation is  there  more  direct  waste  and  extravagance  than 
in  our  educational  systems.  If  a  factory  were  definitely 
designed  to  turn  out  a  certain  article  and  eighty  or  ninety 
per  cent  of  its  product  fell  short  of  completion,  that  insti- 
tution would  speedily  go  to  the  wall,  and  cease  to  exist  as 
a  commercial  factor. 

It  is  pleasant  to  hoodwink  ourselves,  but  very  far  from 
being  profitable,  and  we  have  been  engaged  in  this  hood- 
winking process  in  regard  to  education  for  many  years. 
The  people  of  Canada,  and  still  more  those  of  the  United 
States,  have  long  flattered  themselves  that  their  educa- 
tional systems  are  democratic,  and  this  flattering  unction 
has  been  like  charity  in  that  it  covered  a  multitude  of  sins. 

We  have  been  told  that  everybody  can  get  an  education, 
and  that  the  child  of  the  Prime  Minister  or  President  sits 
on  the  same  bench  as  the  child  of  the  laborer.  As  a  matter 


8  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

of  fact,  our  educational  systems  are,  and  always  have 
been,  aristocratic  in  the  highest  degree.  A  democratic  sys- 
tem of  education  would  provide  for  the  effective  instruc- 
tion of  the  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent  of  the  people,  as  eco- 
nomic units,  and  not  only  for  the  ten  or  twenty  per  cent 
who  proceed  to  high  schools  and  universities,  as  at  present. 

There  are  many  questions  in  connection  with  the  sub- 
ject, on  which  there  seems  to  be,  by  tacit  consent,  a  con- 
spiracy of  silence,  but  this  conspiracy  cannot  be  main- 
tained much  longer  and  these  questions  will  have  to  be 
faced.  Among  them  are,  the  lack  of  parental  influence, 
guidance,  and  control;  the  power  of  the  boy  to  do  as  he 
pleases  in  everything,  particularly  as  to  deciding  when  he 
shall  leave  school  and  the  choice  of  an  occupation;  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  total  reorganization  of  the  elementary  school 
course  of  study;  the  need  or  otherwise  of  industrial  training 
for  the  so-called  unskilled  workers  —  those  performing 
operations  learned  in  a  week  and  doing  them  as  skillfully 
then  as  they  would  with  months  of  training.  What  can  we 
do  for  these  boys  or  girls? 

Some  time  ago  I  was  passing  through  a  button  factory 
and  saw  a  girl  seated  in  front  of  a  small  machine.  On  one 
side  of  her  machine  was  a  box  full  of  bone  button  blanks. 
She  took  one  of  the  blanks  with  her  left  hand,  placed  it  on 
the  plate  of  the  machine  and  deposited  the  pierced  button 
in  a  box  on  her  right.  Her  actions  became  as  automatic  as 
the  machine  itself.  She  was  able  to  talk,  stare  from  the 
window,  and  do  her  work  without  the  slightest  thought 
being  devoted  to  it.  Nine  hours  a  day !  The  employer  was 
asked  what  could  be  done  to  make  that  girl  of  more  use  to 
him.  He  answered,  "Nothing." 

I  saw  a  boy  in  a  biscuit  factory,  seated  on  a  box  beside  a 
traveling  canvas  platform  on  which  were  placed  biscuits 
in  transit  from  the  ovens  to  the  cooling-room.  He  held, 
with  two  hands,  a  flat  wooden  mallet  and  jerked  the  plat- 
form up  and  down,  ever  without  ceasing,  in  order  to  pre- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

vent  the  biscuits  sticking.  Again  nine  hours  a  day!  The 
same  question  was  asked  and  the  same  reply  received.  The 
reader  will  notice  that  the  question  was  not  what  could  be 
done  to  make  the  boy  or  girl  of  more  use  to  themselves.  It 
had  to  be  put  purely  from  the  employer's  point  of  view. 
There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  such  occupations, 
and  those  who  are  engaged  in  them  form  a  large  and  most 
difficult  part  of  our  problem. 

Social  and  educational  workers  like  to  denounce  the 
modern  factory  system  and  the  subdivision  of  labor,  but 
it  is  wasted  effort.  They  are  both  here  to  stay,  and  [the 
sooner  we  cease  to  rail,  and  begin  to  recognize  the  con- 
ditions that  exist,  rather  than  attempt  to  legislate  for 
conditions  that  we  would  like  to  exist,  the  sooner  we  shall 
accomplish  something  educationally  beneficial  and  eco- 
nomically sound. 

Both  foreign  and  home  investigators  are  too  apt  to  con- 
cern themselves  with  the  large  cities,  but  the  problem  is 
not  primarily  one  of  the  big  city.  If  ever  it  is  to  be  worked 
out  satisfactorily  the  small  town  and  isolated  community 
must  receive  much  more  consideration.  A  writer  on 
"Apprenticeship"  in  1882  says:  — 

Small  villages,  country  cross-roads  and  "  corners  "  I  thought 
might  present  favorable  conditions  [for  apprenticeship  systems], 
but  they  seemed  at  first  hardly  worth  considering.  I  examined  the 
census  returns,  however,  and  found  that  of  the  50,000,000  inhab- 
itants of  the  United  States,  9,000,000  only  reside  in  cities  and 
towns  of  20,000  inhabitants  and  over  41,000,000  have  their  homes 
in  the  smaller  towns  and  in  the  country. 

The  present  situation,  according  to  the  United  States 
Census  of  1910,  is  as  follows :  Out  of  a  population  of  91,972,- 
266,  an  aggregate  of  34,153,014  live  in  cities  with  popula- 
tions of  10,000  and  over.  This  means  that  nearly  63  per 
cent  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  live  in  the  smaller 
towns  and  in  the  country.  According  to  the  last  Canadian 
census,  75.6  per  cent  of  the  population  live  in  communi- 


10  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ties  of  less  than  5000  inhabitants.  From  these  figures  it 
will  be  evident  that  if  the  bulk  of  the  people  is  to  be 
educated,  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  must  receive 
ample  consideration.  Though,  perhaps,  in  a  number  of  these 
smaller  towns  agriculture  is  the  main  industry,  yet  a  num- 
ber of  manufactures  are  carried  on,  in  some  cases  under 
most  favorable  conditions ;  and  though '  'Keep  the  boys  on  the 
farm  "  is  a  popular  cry,  yet  it  is  doubtful  if  that  is  altogether 
just  to  the  boy  with  a  taste  for  purely  mechanical  pursuits. 

There  is  a  prejudice  against  working  in  the  industries. 
The  boy  will  not  go  into  a  shop  where  he  has  to  don  over- 
alls and  soil  his  hands,  if  he  can  help  it.  Both  parents  and 
teachers  are  largely  to  blame  for  this  by  directing  the 
thoughts  of  the  boy  to  "white  shirt  and  black  coat  jobs," 
which  strangely  enough  in  a  democratic  country  are  sup- 
posed to  confer  a  higher  social  status. 

The  term  "industrial,"  as  used  until  very  recently, 
shows  the  popular  conception.  It  was,  and  in  some  cases 
still  is,  applied  in  a  narrow,  limited,  and  degraded  sense 
to  schools  for  moral  delinquents,  as  though  industrial  pur- 
suits were  to  be  engaged  in  only  by  those  who  had  broken 
the  laws  of  the  country.  Indeed,  some  American  critics 
have  said  that  if  a  boy  wished  to  secure  education  for  in- 
dustry, he  must  be  either  a  negro,  an  Indian,  or  a  criminal. 

Throughout  the  following  pages  the  term  "America" 
will  be  taken  to  include  both  Canada  and  the  United  States 
—  neither  country  having  the  exclusive  right  to  its  use. 
The  term  "industrial"  will  apply  to  that  form  of  instruc- 
tion which  is  designed  and  calculated  to  benefit  the  rank 
and  file  —  the  large  majority  who  will  work  at  the  bench 
and  machine,  and  not  the  select  few  who  are  being  trained 
in  higher  institutions  for  directive  and  managerial  posi- 
tions. The  proper  name  for  such  higher  instruction  is 
"technical." 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  discuss  the  problems 
of  industrial  education  with  suggestions  for  their  solution, 


INTRODUCTION  11 

and  to  point  out  methods  by  which  the  enormous  economic 
waste  now  prevalent  in  the  practical  administration  and 
organization  of  educational  affairs  may  be  eliminated,  and 
adequate  returns  secured — in  the  shape  of  the  "fitted  pro- 
duct"—  for  the  vast  expenditure  that  is  being  incurred 
and  which  will  be  largely  increased  in  the  future. 


II 

THE   PROBLEM   IN   ITS   VARIOUS   ASPECTS 

AT  present  the  ranks  of  artisans  and  mechanics,  both  skilled 
and  unskilled,  are  recruited  almost  entirely  from  the  ele- 
mentary schools.  Unfortunately  they  are  not  entirely  com- 
posed of  those  who  finish  even  that  course,  but  contain 
in  addition  many  who  leave  before  reaching  the  highest 
grades.  Here  is  the  statement  of  a  manufacturer  quoted  in 
Mr.  Arthur  Dean's  "  The  Worker  and  the  State  " :  — 

I  have  made  enquiry  of  over  a  hundred  workmen  in  my  employ, 
machinists  largely,  hence  representing  a  trade  of  an  intelligence 
higher  than  the  average.  The  enquiry  developed  two  facts,  first, 
out  of  102  men  there  was  not  to  be  found  a  single  graduate  of  a 
high  school  or  a  person  who  ever  attended  as  a  pupil  in  a  high 
school  course.  Second,  out  of  102  men  I  found  only  seven  pupils 
who  had  completed  the  course  in  the  grammar  (elementary) 
schools.  From  this  it  appears  that  the  education  of  all  these 
mechanics  is  limited  to  such  instruction  as  is  furnished  by  the 
grammar  schools  and  that  ninety -three  per  cent  of  them  belong 
to  the  class  of  pupils  that  drop  out  of  school  before  completing  the 
grammar  school  course. 

General  investigation  and  experience  show  that  this  is 
typical  of  all  large  industrial  concerns,  and  surely  prove 
the  absolute  necessity  of  establishing  at  least  the  begin- 
nings of  industrial  training  in  the  elementary  schools,  espe- 
cially as  some  measure  of  that  evanescent  and  elusive  qual- 
ity known  as  "culture"  can  be  imparted  at  the  same  time. 
This  reaches  the  heart  of  the  matter,  which  cannot  be  said 
of  other  suggested  remedies. 

For  example,  there  is  a  movement  now  on  foot  to  raise 
the  minimum  age  for  school  exemption  from  fourteen  to 
sixteen,  and  also  to  make  attendance  at  evening  continua- 


THE  PROBLEM  IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     13 

tion  schools  compulsory  up  to  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eight- 
een, for  those  not  otherwise  receiving  instruction.  These 
are  both  consummations  devoutly  to  be  wished,  but  should 
not  something  else  be  done  first?  Consider  the  following 
facts  from  "Education  for  Industrial  Purposes,"  by  Dr. 
John  Seath,  Superintendent  of  Education  for  Ontario:  — 

As  to  the  primary  schools :  Out  of  an  estimated  total  population 
in  the  Province  of  2,687,861  there  were  enrolled  in  the  public  (ele- 
mentary) schools  401,268,  with  an  average  daily  attendance  of 
240,008  —  that  is  59.81  per  cent  of  the  enrolment,  and  in  the  sep- 
arate schools  (elementary  Catholic),  55,034,  with  an  average 
daily  attendance  of  34,553,  —  that  is  62.78  per  cent.  Of  these 
239,331  (125,210  boys  and  114,121  girls)  were  enrolled  in  rural  and 
216,971  (10,966  boys  and  107,305  girls)  in  urban  schools.  Of  the 
foregoing  it  is  estimated  that  about  1070  girls  and  1030  boys  in 
rural  and  970  girls  and  930  boys  in  urban  localities  —  a  total  of 
4000  —  leave  school  from  the  third  form;  and  about  9190  boys 
and  8810  girls  in  rural  and  10,750  boys  and  10,250  girls  in  urban 
localities  —  a  total  of  39,000  —  from  the  fourth  form.  Accord- 
ingly, as  far  as  attendance  at  our  Provincial  schools  is  concerned, 
a  grand  total  of  about  43,000  end  their  education  in  the  third  and 
fourth  forms:  those  from  the  third  form  leaving  generally  at  from 
ten  to  twelve  years  of  age,  and  those  from  the  fourth  form  at  from 
thirteen  to  fifteen. 

The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  gives  the 
following  particulars:  Of  25,000,000  children  of  school  age 
(five  to  eighteen),  less  than  20,000,000  are  enrolled  in 
schools,  and  the  average  daily  attendance  does  not  exceed 
14,000,000  for  an  average  school  term  of  less  than  eight 
months  of  twenty  days  each.  The  average  daily  attend- 
ance of  those  enrolled  in  the  public  schools  is  only  113  days 
in  the  year.  It  is  estimated  also  that  less  than  half  the 
children  finish  the  first  six  grades.  In  ten  States  less  than 
two  thirds  of  the  school  population  are  enrolled.  In  seven- 
teen States  less  than  two  thirds  of  those  enrolled  are  in 
average  daily  attendance.  In  twenty-six  States  the  aver- 
age length  of  a  school  term  is  less  than  one  hundred  and 
sixty  days.  In  forty-two  States  the  average  attendance  is 


14  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

less  than  one  hundred  days,  in  nineteen  States  less  than 
seventy-five  days,  in  five  States  less  than  fifty  days. 

In  contrast  to  the  above  take  the  official  figures  of  the 
German  educational  authorities,  which  state  that  less  than 
two  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  children  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  fourteen  are  not  in  school,  and  only  0.01 
per  cent  are  illegally  kept  away  from  school. 

Let  us  now  consider  an  English  example.  The  number  of 
young  persons  in  the  city  of  Manchester  between  fourteen 
and  seventeen  years  of  age  is  40,000.  The  attendance  at 
evening  or  secondary  schools  is  not  more  than  15,000,  so 
that  62.5  per  cent  attend  neither  day  nor  evening  schools. 
In  the  whole  of  England  and  Wales  in  1906  and  1907,  the 
total  number  between  the  same  ages  was  2,022,300,  and 
no  fewer  than  1,498,349  of  these  (74  per  cent)  were  attend- 
ing neither  day  nor  evening  schools. 

The  figures  from  Canada  and  the  United  States  go  to 
show  either  that  compulsory  laws  regarding  elementary 
education  do  not  exist,  or  that  if  they  are  on  the  statute  book 
they  are  not  enforced.  It  is  the  impression  in  some  quar- 
ters that  all  has  been  done  that  is  necessary  when  a  law  has 
received  the  assent  of  the  legislature,  but  surely  before  new 
laws  are  promulgated  it  would  be  wise  to  enforce  those  we 
already  have.  If  new  laws  are  enacted  and  treated  in  the 
same  way  as  the  old,  the  situation  will  not  be  materially 
improved.  Further,  to  raise  the  age  to  sixteen  and  con- 
tinue, without  radical  alteration,  the  present  system  of 
public  school  education  would  be  criminal  and  extravagant 
folly. 

In  1909,  a  total  amount  of  $403,647,289  was  raised  for 
public  school  purposes  in  the  United  States.  In  Ontario 
for  the  corresponding  time  and  purpose  the  amount  was 
$10,979,368.  In  view  of  these  large  expenditures  and  the 
educational  loss  to  the  pupils,  it  is  not  too  much  to  ask 
that  steps  be  taken  immediately  to  stop  the  economic 
waste  caused  by  the  lax  enforcement  of  the  present  laws, 


THE  PROBLEM   IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     15 

for  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  educational  machin- 
ery must  be  kept  going  notwithstanding  the  absence  of 
such  a  large  proportion  of  the  children.  Probably  this  will 
never  be  done  until  truant  or  attendance  officers  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  or  Province,  thus  freeing  them  from 
local  control. 

These  facts  lead  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  our 
problem,  for  the  present  at  least,  is  one  for  the  elementary 
schools.  It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that,  in  America,  not  more 
than  twenty  per  cent  of  elementary  school  pupils  are  able 
to  climb  the  next  rung  of  the  "educational  ladder"  and 
enter  the  secondary  schools.  The  remaining  eighty  per 
cent  are  prevented  from  taking  the  next  step  by  the  follow- 
ing causes :  — 

(a)  The  idea  of  the  parent  that  further  education  of  the 
kind  hitherto  received  will  not  materially  assist  the  boy  in 
earning  a  living  or  making  his  way  in  the  world. 

(6)  Economic  causes  —  their  small  earnings  being  nec- 
essary to  the  up-keep  of  the  family. 

(c)  The  natural  restlessness  of  the  boy,  who  wishes  to  be 
doing  something  that  he  considers  "worth  while." 

(d)  Mental  incapacity  for  further  intellectual  advance- 
ment. 

What  would  be  thought  of  the  business  organization  and 
management  of  a  firm  that  concentrated  its  attention  on 
twenty  per  cent  of  its  product?  In  addition  to  this,  con- 
sider the  fact  that  even  of  the  eighty  per  cent,  a  large  num- 
ber drop  out  by  the  way.  To  continue  the  factory  analogy, 
it  is  as  if,  say,  at  the  twentieth  or  thirtieth  operation  in 
making  a  shoe,  the  process  was  stopped  and  the  product 
thrown  on  the  market  for  what  it  would  fetch,  entirely 
regardless  of  the  labor  that  had  been  spent  upon  it. 

In  addition  to  this  again,  a  large  part  of  even  this  unfin- 
ished product  has  to  be  done  twice  over.  In  the  factory  this 
entails  loss  of  time,  money,  and  material;  and  there  can  be 
such  a  thing,  in  education,  as  waste  of  time,  money,  energy, 


16  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

and  mental  resources  of  a  nation,  just  the  same  as  there  is 
waste  of  the  same  factors  in  the  manufacture  of  goods.  It 
has  been  estimated  by  the  Superintendent  of  the  Cleveland 
Public  Schools  that  approximately  $26,000,000  are  annu- 
ally wasted  in  the  United  States  in  taking  children  over 
work  a  second  time.  Dr.  Ayres  affirms  that  every  sixth 
child  in  the  elementary  schools  of  the  United  States  is  a 
"repeater."  Of  course,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  assume  that 
all  this  sum  is  wasted,  for  it  not  infrequently  happens  that 
more  is  gamed  by  a  repetition  of  the  same  work  than  by 
taking  up  new  work  for  which  an  insecure  foundation  has 
been  laid,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  a  very  large  portion  of 
it  is  wasted. 

This,  perhaps,  may  be  accounted  for  by  (1)  the  mental 
incapacity  of  the  child;  (2)  poor  and  ineffective  teaching; 
and  (3)  faulty  grading  and  organization.  For  the  first,  the 
social  conditions,  environment,  parentage,  and  feeding  are 
largely  responsible,  and  children  of  this  type  should  be 
treated  in  special  schools.  This  is  quite  as  much  a  social  as 
an  educational  problem. 

For  the  second,  the  educational  authorities  and  directors 
must  be  blamed,  though  of  course  the  people  must  accept 
the  final  responsibility.  Inefficient  workmen,  who  have  to 
deal  with  inanimate  material,  are  never  retained  in  a  shop; 
and  I  am  not  yet  able  to  see  why  inefficient  teachers,  who 
have  hi  their  care  not  wood,  metal,  leather,  or  stone,  but 
material  vastly  more  precious,  should  be  allowed  to  re- 
tain positions  where  they  can  work  incalculable  harm  to 
the  future  of  the  nation.  Professor  Harvey,  of  Ypsilanti, 
says:  — 

Of  the  five  hundred  thousand  teachers  teaching  in  the  United 
States,  about  one  hundred  thousand  are  teaching  their  first 
term  of  school  this  year.  Of  this  one  hundred  thousand,  scarcely 
more  than  ten  thousand  have  had  any  professional  training, 
or  have  given  to  the  subject  of  teaching  any  preliminary  thought 
that  could  be  called  professional  study. 


THE  PROBLEM  IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     17 

Would  any  manufacturer  place  in  the  hands  of  an  abso- 
lute novice  the  manipulation  of  costly  material  and  the 
working  of  a  costly  machine?  It  is  a  decided  economic 
waste  to  pay  salary  (high  or  low)  to  an  incompetent  teacher; 
yet  in  a  large  number  of  the  smaller  towns  and  cities,  and 
in  some  of  the  larger  ones,  there  are  many  teachers  who 
have  been  thirty  or  forty  years  in  the  service,  and  have 
given  of  their  best,  and  whose  services  supervisors  and  in- 
spectors from  perfectly  justifiable,  humane,  and  sentimental 
reasons  hesitate  to  dispense  with.  It  would  be  an  eco- 
nomically sound  policy  for  the  nation  to  offer  salaries  high, 
enough  to  allow  provision  to  be  made  for  retirement,  or  to 
generously  support  an  adequate  pension  scheme.  Many 
towns  are  already  doing  this,  and  in  these  cases  the  above 
condition  will  soon  be  eliminated.  Instances  are  known 
where  women  teachers  have  spent  thirty  or  forty  years  in 
one  room,  teaching  one  grade  of  pupils.  This  is  almost  as 
bad  as  performing  one  of  the  hundred  operations  in  the 
making  of  a  shoe.  All  the  inefficient  teachers  are  not,  how- 
ever, of  this  class.  Some  are  young,  and  here  the  inspector 
has  to  face  another  proposition.  Directly  he  suggests  that 
a  change  be  made,  in  the  interests  of  the  children,  all  kinds 
of  influence  —  social,  church,  political,  society,  lodge  —  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  trustees,  and  his  efforts  to 
strengthen  the  staff,  looking  towards  the  efficient  educa- 
tion of  the  children,  are  frustrated.  Cases  are  not  unknown 
where  influences  of  this  character  have  been  powerful 
enough  to  secure  the  removal  from  office  of  the  super- 
intendent himself. 

Another  point  to  be  considered  in  this  connection  is  the 
fact  that  probably  not  more  than  half  the  boys  leaving  our 
elementary  schools  ever  come  into  contact  with  a  male 
teacher.  An  English  observer  has  stated  that  the  word 
"teacher,"  unless  otherwise  designated,  is,  in  America,  of 
feminine  gender. 

The  third  cause  —  faulty  grading  and  organization  — 


18  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

is  closely  related  to  the    course  of   study.     Dr.    Ayres 
says:  — 

We  must  so  change  our  courses  of  study  or  our  methods  of 
grading  and  promotion  that  the  children  who  make  rapid  progress 
through  the  grades  shall  be  at  least  equal  in  numbers  to  those  who 
make  slow  progress.  At  present  our  courses  of  study  are  not  fitted 
to  the  abilities  of  the  average  pupil  but  to  those  of  the  unusually 
bright  one.  In  an  investigation  in  New  York  it  was  found  that 
for  every  child  making  rapid  progress  through  the  grades  there 
were  eight  who  made  slow  progress.  Last  year  (1909) ,  in  a  Massa- 
chusetts city,  for  every  one  making  rapid  progress  there  were 
twenty-one  making  slow  progress.  In  a  large  city  in  Pennsyl- 
vania the  slow  pupils  are  fourteen  times  as  numerous  as  the  rapid 
ones.  In  five  other  cities  in  different  parts  of  the  country  the  slow 
pupils  are  from  ten  times  as  numerous  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
times  as  numerous  as  the  rapid  ones.  It  is  probably  a  most  con- 
servative statement  to  say  that  in  the  average  city  there  are  at 
least  ten  times  as  many  children  making  slow  progress  as  there 
are  making  rapid  progress.  To  change  this  condition  is  the  great 
school  problem. 

One  of  the  important  factors  in  this  problem  is  the 
veneration  which  the  public  commonly  has  for  the  "course 
of  study."  How  did  we  get  our  present  course  of  study? 
Any  one  who  has  studied  its  organization  cannot  help  com- 
ing to  the  conclusion  that  its  growth  (if  growth  it  can  be 
called)  has  not  been  natural  and  by  accretion  but  decidedly 
artificial.  Originally  it  was  composed  of  what  we  call  the 
rudiments.  As  the  ideas  of  the  people  expanded,  not  only 
were  the  limits  of  each  subject  extended,  but  one  by  one 
new  subjects  clamored  for  admission;  and  as  each  new  claim- 
ant arose  it  was  deferred  to,  and  the  subject  was  added, 
a  process  of  shortening  the  time  given  to  each  being  gone 
through  to  make  room  for  them  all.  College  entrance 
requirements  determined  whether  they  should  be  admitted 
or  rejected.  The  result  is  what  we  call  the  traditional 
course  of  study. 

Our  problem  is  further  complicated  by  the  gap  that  ex- 


THE  PROBLEM  IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     19 

ists  between  the  close  of  the  elementary  school  course  and 
the  time  of  entry  into  a  definite  and  permanent  trade  or 
occupation.  This  is  a  period  in  which  much  harm  is  done. 
Not  only  is  the  work  of  the  elementary  school  forgotten  and 
rendered  of  no  effect,  but  habits  are  acquired  which  con- 
siderably hinder  the  effects  of  any  further  education  that 
may  be  attempted.  One  or  two  years'  education  at  this 
age  would  be  as  great  as,  or  in  ultimate  value  probably 
greater  than,  double  the  number  at  an  earlier  age,  owing 
to  the  foundation  that  had  been  laid,  and  to  a  broadened 
intelligence  and  expanded  powers. 

It  seems  almost  impossible  to  find  sufficient  work  of  a 
really  educative  character  to  occupy  all  between  thirteen 
and  sixteen  who  now  leave  the  schools.  This  makes  it  the 
duty  of  the  State  to  reduce  the  supply  of  adolescent  labor, 
and  in  this  way  do  something  to  minimize  the  physical 
and  moral  degeneration  caused  by  work  which  provides 
neither  education  in  the  present  nor  economic  prospects 
in  the  future. 

These  prospects  must  be  considered  if  the  education 
given  is  to  be  effective;  but  we  hear  frequent  sneers  at 
"bread-and-butter  education,"  and  some  good  people  are 
very  much  afraid  that  we  shall  make  our  education  "utili- 
tarian." As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  founders  of  our  edu- 
cational system  were  entirely  utilitarian.  High  schools 
were  to  fit  for  college,  which  in  its  turn  was  to  prepare  for 
the  ministry.  Elementary  schools  were  for  the  children  of 
the  masses  to  teach  them  "to  read  and  write  and  cast 
accounts,"  which,  according  to  business  men,  they  are  not 
now  doing. 

We  are  told  that  if  we  make  the  education  given  in  our 
schools  practical,  we  shall  be  depriving  the  children  of  the 
culture  that  a  liberal  education  gives;  but  the  question  is 
not  what  we  would  like  to  do  if  we  could  retain  the  pupils 
for  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  years,  but  what  we  are  able  to  do 
with  the  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent  we  can  retain  for  only 


20  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

four,  six,  or  eight  years.  After  all,  what  is  the  essential  dif- 
ference between  cultural  and  vocational  subjects?  A  sub- 
ject that  is  cultural  for  one  is  vocational  for  another.  We 
must  get  rid  of  our  academic  horror  of  the  vocational  and 
worship  less  at  the  shrine  of  the  cultural.  Chemistry  to  the 
farmer  is  a  vocational  subject,  to  the  minister  or  lawyer 
it  is  cultural.  Mathematics  to  the  engineer  or  machinist  is 
vocational,  to  the  journalist  or  stenographer  it  is  cultural. 
Wherein  lies  the  difference?  It  seems  to  be  a  fact  that  vo- 
cational education  can  be  made  of  some  definite  use  and 
that  cultural  education,  beyond  the  general  broadening 
and  training  of  the  mind,  cannot.  Some  one  has  said,  "The 
education  we  can  use  is  a  blessing,  the  education  we  cannot 
use  is  a  curse."  There  is  no  really  vital  conflict  between  the 
two.  The  curriculum  can  be  organized  in  such  a  way  as 
to  direct  the  boy  and  girl  towards  the  industrial,  without 
in  the  slightest  degree  impairing,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
adding  to  the  culture  now  imparted. 

Nobody  has  as  yet  satisfactorily  defined  what  the  educa- 
tionist means  when  he  pleads  for  culture.  It  surely  cannot 
consist  in  the  amount  of  education  a  man  has,  for  univer- 
sity students  both  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  have 
been  known  to  act  like  "hooligans"  and  "toughs,"  and 
many  a  so-called  uneducated  tramp  has  given  evidence 
of  gentlemanly  bearing  and  kindly  feeling.  As  Ruskin 
says,  "We  are  always  in  these  days  endeavoring  to  sepa- 
rate intellect  and  manual  labor  ;  we  want  one  man  to  be 
always  thinking  and  another  to  be  always  working,  and 
we  call  one  a  gentleman  and  the  other  an  operative; 
whereas  the  workman  ought  often  to  be  thinking  and  the 
thinker  ought  often  to  be  working,  and  both  should  be 
gentlemen  in  the  best  sense." 

In  the  present  economic  condition  of  society  the  bread- 
and-butter  problem  is  the  great  question  of  life  for  the  large 
majority,  and  is  one  of  the  most  logical  and  effective  argu- 
ments that  can  be  made.  It  is  the  manifest  duty  of  the 


THE  PROBLEM   IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     21 

State,  if  it  be  truly  democratic,  and  if  it  be  organized  on 
the  principle  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber, to  make  the  chief  work  of  the  elementary  schools  that 
of  training  the  great  bread-winner,  the  hand,  assuming  of 
course  the  self-evident  proposition  that  the  hand  cannot 
be  effectively  trained  without  at  the  same  time  training 
the  head. 

We  are  told  that  our  educational  systems  should  pre- 
pare our  children  to  live  a  worthy  life,  but  it  cannot  be  too 
often  repeated  that  no  one  can  live  a  worthy  life  unless 
he  has  ability  to  make  a  living.  In  France  it  used  to  be 
said  that  every  private  soldier  carried  a  marshal's  baton  in 
his  knapsack.  We  have  modified  this  and  affect  to  believe 
that  every  boy  can  rise  to  be  Prime  Minister  or  Presi- 
dent, and  have  moulded  our  educational  systems  on  the 
assumption  that  every  boy  will. 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler  has  said:  — 

It  will  be  a  grave  error  to  set  vocational  and  liberal  training  in 
sharp  antagonism  to  each  other.  The  purpose  of  the  former  is  to 
pave  the  way  for  some  appreciation  of  the  latter  and  to  provide 
an  economic  basis  for  it  to  rest  upon.  The  equally  grave  error  of 
the  past  has  been  to  frame  a  course  of  study  on  the  hypothesis 
that  every  student  was  to  go  forward  in  the  most  deliberate  and 
amplest  fashion  to  the  study  of  the  products  of  the  intellectual 
life  regardless  of  the  basis  of  the  economic  support. 

The  more  this  question  of  industrial  education  is  studied, 
the  more  it  will  be  found  to  have  its  roots  in  the  primary 
schools;  and  until  it  is  seriously  attacked  from  this  point  a 
large  portion  of  the  money  expended  will  be  wasted,  our 
efforts  fruitless,  the  results  achieved  unsatisfying  and  dis- 
appointing, and  the  practical  effect  upon  the  great  mass 
of  industrial  workers  very  little.  No  matter  what  efforts 
we  may  put  forth,  it  is  by  a  reorganized  course  of  study 
and  by  longer  and  more  regular  attendance  at  the  day 
schools  that  the  best  results  will  be  accomplished. 

Efforts  were  made  to  do  something  in  this  connection  by 


22  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  introduction  of  manual  training.  It  was  expected  that 
this  subject  would  do  much  to  remedy  the  defects  even  then 
admitted  to  exist.  Much  was  expected  of  it,  but  many  of 
these  expectations  have  been  unreasonable  in  view  of  the 
limited  time  allotted  to  the  work.  For  this  limitation  the 
teachers  (of  academic  subjects)  and  college  entrance  require- 
ments have  been  largely  responsible.  In  the  average  public 
school  system  one  to  one  and  a  half  hours  a  week  is  all 
that  is  given  to  manual  training.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  this  time  includes  instruction  in  making  working 
d£wings,  care  of  tools,  growth,  seasoning,  and  marketing 
of  lumber,  in  addition  to  the  actual  work  of  construction, 
it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  manual  training  teacher 
has  a  serious  task  before  him. 

In  many  places  in  the  United  States  women  teachers 
of  this  subject  are  employed,  but  in  Ontario  and  Canada 
generally,  the  regulations  allow  the  employment  of  men 
only. 

Manual  training  has  never  had  a  fair  chance.  The  sub- 
ject has  been  handicapped  at  every  turn, — insufficient 
time,  meagre  equipment,  academic  opposition,  public  in- 
difference, limited  ability  of  the  teacher;  and  yet,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  a  large  measure  of  success  has  been 
achieved.  No  educationist  or  public  man  of  any  standing 
to-day  can  be  found  who  would  seriously  advocate  the 
elimination  of  the  subject  from  the  school  curriculum. 
It  only  needs  fair  conditions  and  adequate  opportunities, 
to  demonstrate  what  it  can  do,  and  the  aid  it  can  render 
in  laying  a  foundation  on  which  can  be  erected  a  solid 
structure  of  industrial  education. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  present  agitation  for 
industrial  education  has  largely  grown  out  of,  and  devel- 
oped from,  the  manual  training  movement.  This  is  owing 
to  two  causes,  —  the  far-sightedness  of  many  of  the  men 
engaged  in  teaching  it,  and  its  failure  to  directly  influence 
industry.  Almost  every  man  engaged  in  the  active  promo- 


THE  PROBLEM   IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     23 

tion  of  industrial  education  to-day  has  come  into  it  from 
the  manual  training  classroom.  These  men  recognize  that 
a  reorganization  and  readjustment  of  our  present  manual 
training  courses  ought  to  be  made,  and  can  be  made,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  afford  a  much  wider  industrial  knowledge,  and 
to  give  a  much  broader  industrial  experience. 

"Art"  is  a  subject  closely  allied  to  manual  training,  if 
indeed  it  is  not  another  form  of  it,  which  has  been  cap- 
tured by  the  culturists  and  diverted  from  its  original  pur- 
pose. It  was  claimed  for  it,  on  its  introduction  into  the 
elementary  schools,  that  it  was  the  language  of  the  indus- 
tries, and  as  such  would  directly  help  the  future  worker. 
At  the  time  of  its  entry  into  the  schools  the  word  "art" 
was  scarcely  invented  and  the  term  "drawing"  was  used, 
but  drawing  is  no  longer  heard  of.  The  subject  has  become 
more  and  more  exclusively  cultural  in  its  aims  and  meth- 
ods, and  its  original  industrial  purpose  has  been  almost 
entirely  lost  sight  of.  The  terms  "art"  and  "drawing"  are 
by  no  means  synonymous.  Art  is  the  larger  term,  and  as  at 
present  taught  does  not  in  many  cases  include  the  latter. 

The  history  of  art  as  a  school  subject  is  about  as  follows: 
First  came  the  rigid  copying  from  the  flat  with  a  line  of 
poker-like  stiffness,  drawing  of  type  models,  no  imagination, 
no  color,  no  freedom;  only  rigid  adherence  to  type.  After 
about  thirty  years  of  this  came  a  revolt;  flat  copies,  type 
models,  the  ruler,  and  all  instruments  of  precision  were 
abolished,  and  free  drawing,  the  unrestricted  play  of  the 
imagination,  and  the  plentiful  use  of  color  became  the 
objects  of  instruction,  and  this  is  very  commonly  where  we 
stand  to-day  with  one  or  two  notable  exceptions. 

In  the  reaction  against  stiffness,  rigidity,  and  authority 
we  have  swung  too  far,  and  color  is  now  the  be-all  and  end- 
all  of  many  courses  in  this  subject.  Whatever  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  the  old  system,  it  certainly  had  one  great 
advantage,  that  of  inculcating  fidelity  and  accuracy.  Now 
some  of  the  drawings,  so  called,  that  we  get  do  not  bear  "  the 


24  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

likeness  of  anything  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in 
the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth." 
A  child's  interest  in  making  pretty  things  should  not  be 
allowed  to  crowd  out  his  interest  in  making  them  right. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  this  connection. 
The  introduction  of  color  has  certainly  revived  interest  in 
a  subject  that  had  grown  lifeless  and  dead,  and  no  course  of 
drawing  that  claims  to  be  either  educational  or  practical, 
or  both,  could  take  the  retrograde  step  of  banishing  it,  but 
it  should  in  every  case  be  secondary  to  good  drawing.  The 
most  brilliant  display  of  color  loses  its  effect  when  accom- 
panied by  bad  drawing.  The  function  of  drawing  in  the 
elementary  school,  while  it  is  educational  and  develops  an 
aesthetic  appreciation  for  beauty,  should  be  to  develop 
many  future  artisans,  not  a  few  artists,  though  both  pur- 
poses should  be  kept  fully  in  view.  At  present  it  looks  as 
though  we  were  trying  to  turn  every  elementary  school 
pupil  into  an  artist,  and  the  attempt  must  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  fail.  The  course  must  be  both  practical 
and  aesthetic,  training  the  many  to  become  productive  arti- 
sans, and  all  to  be  able  to  appreciate  and  derive  pleasure 
from  the  contemplation  of  the  great  masterpieces  of  nature, 
painting,  and  construction.  A  German  critic,  after  investi- 
gating the  methods  of  teaching  drawing  in  the  schools  of 
the  United  States,  says:  — 

The  results  of  the  instruction,  too,  in  the  lower  grades  exceed 
all  expectations.  In  the  advanced  grades,  however,  they  do  not 
wholly  accord  with  this  advanced  beginning.  While  the  work  of 
the  children  of  eight  or  nine  years  is  so  admirable,  the  pupils  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen  offer  correspondingly  little  that  is  satisfactory. 
We  should  expect  from  pupils  of  the  highest  grades  that  in  draw- 
ing from  nature  they  would  have  the  ability  to  see  form  clearly 
and  to  apprehend  an  object  accurately.  But  instruction  has 
failed  to  develop  a  disposition  to  see  clearly;  the  plant  drawings  of 
the  sixteen-year  old  pupil  frequently  present  the  same  schematic 
pictures  as  those  of  the  lower  grades.  Manifestly  this  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  instruction  wholly  neglects  exercises  in  accuracy.  One 


THE  PROBLEM  IN   ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     25 

is  forcibly  reminded  of  the  desultory  methods  of  piano  instruc- 
tion that  plays  only  parlor  pieces  without  introducing  the  finger 
exercises  necessary  for  the  systematic  progress  of  the  pupil. 

The  subject  corresponding  to  manual  training  that  has 
been  introduced  into  the  curriculum  for  girls  is  household 
science,  and  this  has  been  interpreted,  perhaps,  even  more 
narrowly  than  manual  training.  The  broad  and  compre- 
hensive term  has  been  translated  to  mean  "cookery,"  but 
while  it  is  true  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  important 
branches  of  it,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  it  is  the  whole. 
The  teachers  themselves  recognize  that  this  is  a  narrow 
interpretation,  but  are  almost  powerless.  When  it  is  rec- 
ognized that  one  and  a  half  or  two  hours  a  week  is  all  the 
time  allowed,  and  that  manual  training  and  household 
science  are  the  first  subjects  to  be  cut  off  in  the  case  of  pres- 
sure of  work  arising  from  preparation  for  examinations,  and 
other  causes,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  both  the  teachers 
and  the  subject  are  seriously  handicapped. 

Another  problem  that  is  one  of  great  importance  is  the 
organizing  of  evening  classes.  Every  country  that  has  de- 
voted any  thought  to  the  subject  of  industrial  education, 
and  has  translated  that  thought  into  action,  has  commenced 
operations  by  organizing  a  more  or  less  efficient  system  of 
evening  schools  or  classes.  The  backbone  of  the  English 
system  is  its  evening  schools,  and  to  a  less  extent  this  is  true 
also  of  Germany. 

It  is  admitted  that  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  train  those 
who  will  in  future  occupy  our  factories  and  workshops, 
but  that  it  is  equally  and  perhaps  more  important  that 
those  who  are  at  present  engaged  therein  should  be  given 
an  opportunity  to  obtain  that  training  which  they  were 
not  able  to  obtain  while  they  were  in  attendance  at  day 
schools,  and  which  will  not  now  come  to  them  while  tied 
to  one  machine  or  confined  to  one  process  during  their 
daily  employment. 

Recently  there  has  come  into  the  minds  of  those  en- 


26  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

gaged  in  the  organization  of  industrial  education  grave 
doubts  as  to  whether  the  country  is  receiving  an  adequate 
return  for  the  expenditure  incurred  by  this  branch  of  our 
educational  system.  In  Canada  the  movement  is  just  be- 
ginning. In  the  United  States  in  certain  centres,  not  by 
any  means  widely  spread  outside  the  large  towns,  evening 
schools  have  long  been  established.  Articles  have  recently 
appeared  in  some  sections  of  the  educational  press  headed 
"The  Failure  of  Evening  Schools,"  and  in  some  instances  a 
good  case  has  been  made  out.  It  would  be  an  exaggeration 
to  say  that  they  have  failed,  but  it  can  be  said  without  the 
slightest  hesitation  that  they  have  not  achieved  the  success 
that  might  reasonably  have  been  expected  and  that  their 
importance  warrants.  Few  will  deny  that  in  individual  cases 
sound  and  solid  progress  is  being  made,  but  this  is  accom- 
panied by  enormous  waste.  For  one  who  gets  out  of  these 
schools  all  that  they  are  capable  of  giving,  thousands  do 
not  justify  the  expenditure  that  is  being  made  on  their 
behalf.  Evening  schools  are  one  of  the  vital  problems  in 
connection  with  the  whole  question,  and  on  their  successful 
development  and  management  the  ultimate  efficiency  of 
industrial  education  will  largely  depend. 

Their  organization  will  differ  according  to  the  character 
of  the  town  where  they  are  to  be  established.  The  towns 
in  which  manufacturing  industries  furnish  the  chief  occu- 
pations for  the  people  may  be  grouped  into  three  classes, 
each  class  constituting  a  problem  of  its  own :  — 

1.  Those  towns  generally  small  in  population  where 
there  is  carried  on  mainly  one  industry  in  which  practically 
all  the  people  are  engaged. 

2.  The  towns  in  which  there  are  a  number  of  small  but 
important  industries. 

3.  The  large  towns  and  cities  in  which  there  are  two  or 
three  main  industries  employing  a  large  number  of  the  pop- 
ulation and  also  a  very  large  number  of  smaller  industries. 

Are  we  getting  the  fullest  value  fran*  our  schools  even 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     27 

from  a  material  point  of  view?  It  is  difficult  if  not  impos- 
sible to  obtain  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  total  amount 
invested  in  educational  plants  and  buildings  in  America, 
but  we  are  quite  safe  in  saying  that  it  totals  to  an  enor- 
mous sum,  and  we  are  equally  safe  in  stating  that  the  pub- 
lic is  not  getting  anything  like  an  adequate  return  for  the 
amount  invested.  These  buildings  are  in  use  five  or  five 
and  a  half  hours  a  day  for  five  days  a  week  for,  at  the  most, 
forty  weeks  in  the  year  and  they  are  closed  entirely  for  at 
least  two  months.  The  length  of  the  school  day  and  term 
will  be  dealt  with  later,  but  even  with  the  present  organiza- 
tion is  it  not  possible  to  get  more  out  of  our  schools? 

The  school  is,  of  course,  primarily  intended  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  their  interests  must  be  the  first  consideration, 
nothing  being  allowed  to  militate  against  those  interests. 
But  is  it  not  feasible,  without  in  the  least  sacrificing  the 
welfare  of  the  children,  so  to  plan  and  build  our  schools 
that  they  may  be  used  for  extended  educational  and  social 
service? 

Another  important  consideration  is  the  attitude  of  par- 
ents. The  average  parent  is  prejudiced  against  industrial 
occupations.  As  an  illustration  take  the  following  instance. 
The  principal  of  a  large  collegiate  institute  (high  school)  in 
the  Province  of  Ontario  had  a  boy  who  failed  to  gain  his  pro- 
motion, but  who  had  done  remarkably  well  in  manual  train- 
ing. This  school  has  an  industrial  class,  the  boys  spending 
half  their  time  in  the  shops  of  the  school  and  the  other  half 
in  academic  work,  more  or  less  related  to  that  done  in  the 
shops.  The  father  of  the  boy,  a  prosperous  foreman  moulder, 
was  recommended  to  put  him  in  the  shops,  after  a  prelimi- 
nary course  in  the  industrial  class.  He  replied  that  he  was 
not  going  to  let  his  son  slave  away  his  life  in  the  factories  as 
he  had  done,  getting  up  early  to  breathe  dusty  air  all  day 
and  then  going  home  too  tired  to  do  anything  except  to 
sleep  in  order  to  prepare  for  a  new  day's  toil.  This  is 
typical  of  the  attitude  of  a  vast  majority  of  parents.  They 


28  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

desire  education  for  their  children  in  order  that  they  may 
"rise  above"  the  ordinary  walks  of  life,  that  they  may  not 
have  to  work  as  hard  as  their  fathers  did.  Theoretically 
they  believe  thoroughly  in  industrial  education,  but  so  far 
as  it  leads  to  actual  work  in  a  shop  or  factory  it  is  for  the 
son  of  somebody  else  and  not  their  own. 

We  boast  largely  of  the  interest  of  our  people  in  educa- 
tional affairs,  but  after  all  what  does  it  amount  to?  Mr. 
Chancellor,  in  his  book  on  "American  Schools,"  says:  — 

The  efforts  that  have  been  made,  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States,  to  interest  the  fathers  of  the  school  children  in  the  schools 
have  usually  proven  fruitless.  The  American  father,  whether  a 
business  manager  or  a  clerk,  a  mechanic  or  manual  laborer,  is  sel- 
dom deeply  concerned  for  the  educational  welfare  of  his  children. 
He  is  too  busy  to  attend  to  these  matters.  The  American  mothers 
are  likewise  too  busy  with  home  affairs  to  interest  themselves  as  a 
class  in  even  those  matters  lying  outside  of  the  home  that  are  as 
near  to  the  home  interests  as  are  the  affairs  of  the  schools. 

If  this  is  true  in  connection  with  general  education,  which 
has  been  in  operation  for  many  years,  it  is  still  more  true  in 
regard  to  industrial  education  which  in  its  modern  form  is 
of  comparatively  recent  growth. 

In  an  English  inquiry  into  the  success  of  evening  schools 
the  following  amongst  other  questions  were  asked  of  a 
number  of  persons  who  had  been  engaged  in  evening  school 
work  for  many  years:  "What  is  the  attitude  of  parents 
towards  evening  continuation  schools?  "  " Do  they  encour- 
age their  children  to  attend?"  Seventy-five  answers  were 
received  from  seventy-nine  persons,  and  every  one  of  these 
replies  stated  that  the  attitude  of  the  majority  of  the  par- 
ents was  one  of  indifference.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
question  the  president  of  the  Textile  Workers'  Union  of 
America  says:  — 

The  same  keen  desire  is  in  the  hearts  of  all  parents  to  see  their 
boys  and  girls  make  good,  not  as  industrial  specialists,  as  simply 
parts  of  a  machine  where  nothing  counts  but  speed  and  produc- 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     29 

tion,  but  as  men  and  women  whose  early  training  and  education 
will  equip  them  to  grasp  the  higher  technique  of  any  trade  or  call- 
ing they  may  be  best  fitted  for,  to  know  the  way  a  thing  is  done 
and  the  very  best  and  most  artistic  way  of  doing  it,  coupled  with 
an  economic  knowledge  of  their  labor. 

Another  feature  that  further  complicates  the  problem  is 
the  early  age  at  which  the  pupils  leave  the  elementary 
school.  There  is  no  question  but  that  in  the  majority  of 
cases  the  boy  himself  decides  whether  he  shall  continue  his 
attendance  or  not,  entirely  irrespective  of  the  wishes  of  his 
parents.  The  Report  of  the  first  Massachusetts  Industrial 
Commission  of  1906  says,  "Mother  after  mother  declares, 
*  We  wanted  him  to  stay  in  school.' "  The  average  boy  of 
to-day  will  take  neither  advice  nor  direction  in  this  matter. 
Of  course  it  is  said  that  the  school  is  to  blame  for  this,  that 
the  boy  does  not  think  it  worth  his  while  to  remain  in  school, 
and  that  the  subjects  offered  do  not  appeal  to  him  as  being 
of  any  practical  use.  This  is  partly  true,  but  deeper  than 
all  is  the  condition  which  has  rendered  the  authority  and 
direction  of  the  parent  obsolete.  In  this  matter  the  parent 
should  exercise  more  intelligent  and  rational  compulsion; 
but  compulsion  in  any  form  is  abhorrent  to  the  democratic 
mind.  Parental  discretion  is  almost  entirely  absent.  Allow- 
ing a  boy  to  decide  for  himself  before  he  has  the  knowledge 
or  capacity  for  doing  so,  is  to  place  a  handicap  upon  his 
entire  future  career. 

The  parent  and  the  boy  are  generally  at  one  in  not  choos- 
ing any  industrial  occupation  from  preference.  Boys  ignore 
as  long  as  possible  the  productive  side  of  the  industries  and 
much  prefer  those  activities  which  have  to  do  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  product  —  trade  and  commerce.  There  is 
a  common  feeling  among  them,  and  unfortunately  among 
some  people  of  larger  growth,  that  there  is  a  lack  of  re- 
spectability in  having  to  do  anything  that  soils  the  hands. 
Boys  do  not  like  wearing  aprons  and  overalls.  They  think 
it  looks  too  much  like  work. 


30  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Now  as  a  result  of  this  sort  of  feeling  we  see  young  men 
leave  the  farms  and  the  workshops  and  come  into  towns 
to  enter  some  merchant's  store  where  they  can  wear  good 
clothes  every  day,  and  we  see  young  ladies  who  would 
think  it  a  disgrace  if  they  could  not  play  the  piano,  but 
who  do  not  think  it  unbecoming  or  unwomanly  to  show  a 
profound  contempt  for  the  baking-board  or  the  broom. 

The  girls  taking  the  household  science  course  in  one  of 
the  high  schools  in  the  United  States  recently  petitioned 
the  Board  of  Education  to  be  relieved  of  the  disgrace 
and  drudgery  of  washing  dishes.  All  this,  perhaps,  is  not 
owing  to  a  desire  on  their  part  to  shirk  hard  work  or  because 
of  a  lack  of  physical  energy.  It  may  be  owing  to  a  per- 
fectly natural  desire  which  craves  for  the  greatest  possible 
appreciation  from  the  world  and  to  have  the  best  possible 
appearance  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Now  as  long  as  it  is 
considered  more  respectable  to  be  a  clerk  in  a  store  than 
to  be  a  blacksmith  or  a  carpenter,  to  be  an  ordinary  clerk 
rather  than  a  skilled  mechanic,  just  so  long  will  the  "profes- 
sions" be  overcrowded  and  the  industries  have  to  take  the 
residuum. 

Most  young  men  would  rather  be  second-rate  lawyers 
or  doctors  than  skilled  mechanics;  would  rather  be  the 
defender  in  a  court  of  justice  of  a  notorious  murderer  or 
forger  than  the  designer  or  builder  of  an  international 
bridge.  This  is  quite  as  much  a  social  question  as  an  edu- 
cational one.  Surely  the  church  has  a  duty  to  perform  here 
as  well  as  the  home  and  the  school. 

The  ordinary  schoolboy  gets  the  idea  from  various 
sources  that  it  requires  no  education  to  be  a  mechanic,  and 
that  brawn  and  not  brains  is  required.  The  viewpoint  of 
the  boy  must  be  changed.  His  vocational  imagination 
must  be  enlarged  in  order  to  widen  the  area  of  industrial 
choice  and  hence  the  scope  of  economic  success.  A  Report 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  says,  "False  views 
and  absurd  notions  possess  the  minds  of  too  many  of  our 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS     31 

youth,  which  cause  them  to  shun  work  at  the  trades  and  to 
seek  the  office  or  store  as  much  more  genteel  and  fitting." 

If  the  boy  who  leaves  school  early  remained  in  one  em- 
ployment until  he  was  receivable  in  a  definite  trade,  the 
position  would  not  be  so  serious.  He  would,  at  any  rate, 
gain  habits  of  stability;  but  he  drifts  from  one  occupation 
to  another,  becoming  more  shiftless  and  less  and  less  in- 
clined to  persistent  effort  and  serious  study.  This  can  prob- 
ably be  partially  cured  by  a  larger  measure  of  parental 
discipline  and  management. 

In  the  United  States  Census  for  1900  the  enumerators 
were  required  to  report  the  occupations  of  all  children 
between  ten  and  sixteen  years  of  age  who  were  "earning 
money  regularly  by  labor,  contributing  to  the  family  sup- 
port, or  appreciably  assisting  in  mechanical  or  agricultural 
industry."  The  total  number  reported  was  1,750,000.  Of 
these,  sixty  per  cent  were  engaged  in  agriculture  and  four 
fifths  of  them  were  boys.  The  number  of  children  in  other 
occupations  was  688,000.  Of  these,  186,000  (110,000  boys 
and  76,000  girls)  were  between  ten  and  fourteen  years 
of  age.  Of  the  110,000  boys,  59,000  were  messenger 
and  office  boys,  servants  and  waiters  or  laborers,  12,500 
were  employed  in  textile  factories,  and  9000  were  em- 
ployed in  mines  and  quarries.  Of  the  76,000  girls, 
50,000  were  servants,  waitresses,  etc.,  14, 000  were  engaged 
in  textile  factories,  and  4000  were  dressmakers,  tailor- 
esses,  etc. 

Even  these  figures  do  not  portray  the  whole  situation. 
The  Government  Report  on  the  "  Condition  of  Women 
and  Children  Wage-Earners, "  recently  compiled  by  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  reveals  startling  condi- 
tions. One  volume  of  the  nineteen  which  constitutes  the 
full  Report  is  entitled  "Juvenile  Delinquency  in  Relation 
to  Employment."  This  gives  a  study  of  4839  delinquent 
children.  Of  this  number  a  majority  (2767)  were  or  had 
been  working  children.  Leaving  out  the  561  girls  we  find 


32  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  employments  furnishing  the  delinquents  to  be  as  fol- 
lows:— 

Delivery  and  errand  boys    ....  491 

Newsboys  and  bootblacks   ....  449 

Telegraph  messengers 73 

Street  vendors        66 

Amusement  hall  employees      ...  51 

More  than  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  delinquents  studied 
are  reported  as  from  "fair  or  good  homes."  Only  419  of 
all  the  boys  had  widowed  mothers  and  only  185  were 
orphans.  It  will  be  noticed  that  all  the  delinquent  produc- 
ing occupations  are  blind  alleys  which  lead  to  nothing 
either  educationally  or  economically.  In  view  of  these 
facts  it  is  evident,  first,  that  there  is  an  educational  need 
unsupplied,  and,  second,  that  further  effort  is  required 
to  inculcate  in  the  minds  of  a  large  number  of  parents  a 
larger  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  future  welfare  of  the 
child. 

The  problem  that  meets  us  here  is  the  training  of  the 
boy  or  girl  who  leaves  the  elementary  school  at  thirteen 
or  fourteen  years  of  age,  with  the  ultimate  prospect  of 
entering  the  industrial  field.  Professor  Paul  Hanus  has 
said,  "  We  are  the  only  progressive  nation  which  allows 
its  adolescents  —  the  great  majority  of  them — to  drift 
without  systematic  educational  influence  from  the  time 
they  are  fourteen  years  of  age  until  they  arrive  at  the 
threshold  of  citizenship." 

Large  numbers  leave  the  elementary  schools  at  this  age 
or  earlier,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  elementary 
school  course  could  and  should  be  finished  in  less  time  than 
it  takes  at  present.  Andrew  S.  Draper,  Commissioner  of 
Education  for  the  State  of  New  York,  whose  authority 
few  will  dispute,  says:  "The  hard  fact  is  that  we  ought  to 
get  the  children  well  started  earlier  and  push  them  along 
from  one  grade  to  another  more  rapidly  than  we  do,  and  I 
entertain  no  doubt  but  that  we  ought  to  do  the  work  we 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS    33 

do  in  the  elementary  grades,  or  such  parts  of  it  as  are 
fundamental  and  potential,  in  at  least  one  less  year  than 
we  take  for  it." 

If  we  are  to  take  steps  to  provide  further  educational 
training  for  the  fourteen-year-old  boy,  then  the  financial 
condition  of  the  parent  will  have  to  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. We  in  the  New  World  are  in  the  habit  of  flattering 
ourselves  by  drawing  comparisons  between  our  conditions 
and  those  that  exist  in  the  Old.  We  are  told  that  if  poverty 
exists  at  all,  it  is  found  only  in  a  very  modified  form.  We 
are  told  also  that  every  boy  can  get  an  education,  and 
that,  if  he  has  the  ability,  he  can  climb  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top  of  the  so-called  educational  ladder.  But  this  ladder 
has  several  rungs  broken  and  others  so  badly  damaged 
that  they  are  scarcely  safe  to  tread.  In  the  report  of  the 
first  Massachusetts  Industrial  Commission,  in  1906,  parent 
after  parent  declared  that  they  could  have  kept  their  chil- 
dren at  school  had  they  wished  to  stay.  How  far  are  these 
representations  reliable?  There  is  a  tendency  in  all  people 
to  exaggerate  the  difficulties  of  their  social  and  financial 
conditions.  It  is  highly  probable,  however,  that  a  large 
number  of  parents  are  actually  in  need  of  the  earnings  of 
the  boy  or  girl  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
that  a  number  of  the  parents  who  make  the  necessary 
sacrifice  to  give  their  children  extended  training,  do  so  at 
the  expense  of  their  own  health  and  usefulness. 

The  Trades'  Union  Congress  of  Great  Britain  places 
first  in  the  list  of  needed  reforms  "the  State  maintenance 
of  school  children."  It  is  stated  that  the  experience  of  the 
Manhattan  Trade  School  for  Girls  goes  to  indicate  that 
about  one  quarter  of  the  students  need  some  assistance, 
ranging  from  car-fare  to  the  equivalent  of  a  small  wage, 
which  the  girls  would  make  in  trade,  and  which  the  parents 
cannot  forego.  The  following  extract,  taken  from  the  De- 
troit "Free  Press"  of  March  27,  1912,  shows  a  decided 
tendency  in  the  same  direction,  and  it  may  be  safely  as- 


34  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

sumed  that  with  the  growth  and  congestion  of  cities  this 
state  of  affairs  will  at  least  show  no  early  diminution: 

To  establish  a  fund  from  which  payment  may  be  made  to  needy 
families  whose  sons  or  daughters  are  required  to  attend  school,  the 
School  Board  will  ask  that  the  Common  Council  include  in  the 
budget  an  extra  estimate  of  $10,000  if  the  recommendation  of  the 
real  estate  committee  is  accepted.  The  State  law  governing  this 
was  passed  last  year.  It  provides  that  when  families  are  depend- 
ent on  the  money  earned  by  children  who  are  yet  so  young  that 
they  are  not  allowed  to  leave  school,  the  Board  of  Education  shall 
pay  to  the  families  an  amount  equal  to  that  which  the  children 
would  earn  if  employed.  Several  requests  of  this  sort  have  been 
received,  but  the  Board  has  no  money  to  pay  out.  It  is  therefore 
making  this  request  to  show  its  willingness  to  comply  with  the 
law. 

In  addition  to  the  training,  along  industrial  lines,  to  be 
given  by  the  school,  we  must  also  consider  that  which  is 
to  be  given  by  the  shop.  There  is  a  consensus  of  opinion 
that  a  system  of  apprenticeship  is  necessary  to  remedy  the 
defects  of  modern  industrial  organization.  This  is  shown 
by  the  numerous  attempts  to  revive  the  system  in  a  form 
calculated  to  meet  present  conditions.  The  president  of 
the  National  Metal  Trades  Association  says:  — 

A  proper  apprenticeship  system  is  essential  to  the  education 
and  perfection  of  skilled  mechanics. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  says:  — 

It  is  further  recognized  that  the  old  apprenticeship  system  pos- 
sessed many  features  that  were  uneconomic  and  unjust,  but  with 
the  preservation  of  much  that  was  good,  and  its  application  with 
proper  blending  with  the  modern  idea  of  perfection  in  theory, 
it  would  lead  to  more  satisfactory  results.  A  marked  tendency 
towards  apprenticeship  is  taking  place,  and  the  feeling  expressed 
by  both  employer  and  employed  is  that  a  gradual  return  will  take 
place  if  such  training  is  conducted  sanely  and  advantageously  to 
the  American  youth. 

If  this  be  generally  admitted,  we  must  establish  a  sys- 
tem that  will  give  adequate  and  thorough  preparation  to 
the  young  apprentice,  safeguard  the  interests  of  labor,  and 


THE  PROBLEM   IN  ITS   VARIOUS  ASPECTS    35 

give  an  equitable  return  to  the  employer  for  the  capital  he 
has  invested.  In  the  organization  of  industrial  education 
the  system  of  apprenticeship  in  its  modern  revived  form 
must  be  considered  as  a  powerful  factor. 

In  order  that  the  training  given  may  achieve  its  object, 
it  is  essential  that  the  trained  person  be  placed  in  the  posi- 
tion where  he  can  best  apply  that  training.  Recent  com- 
missions and  investigations  have  demonstrated  the  urgent 
necessity  of  taking  some  steps  to  prevent  the  indiscrimi- 
nate choice  of  occupations  by  children  leaving  the  elemen- 
tary school.  It  is  also  quite  clear  that,  if  industrial  educa- 
tion is  to  achieve  anything  like  its  full  fruition,  measures 
must  be  adopted  to  influence  this  choice  of  occupation  in 
such  a  way  that  consideration  be  given  to  the  ability,  ca- 
pacity, and  predilection  of  the  child,  as  well  as  to  his  future 
prospects  in  the  industry.  The  step  the  boy  takes  at  this 
time  is  a  sudden  and  often  irrevocable  one.  He  passes  in 
one  bound  from  the  discipline  and  care  of  the  school,  such 
as  it  is,  to  the  freedom,  liberty,  and  license  of  the  wage- 
earner,  and,  while  a  child  in  disposition  and  knowledge,  he 
is  allowed  to  act  as  an  adult  without  either  advice  or  re- 
sponsibility. 

The  numerous  openings  for  child  labor,  the  complex 
character  of  modern  industry,  and  the  limited  knowledge 
parents  have  of  occupations  outside  their  own,  make  it 
impossible  for  a  large  number  of  them  to  select  intelligently 
an  occupation  for  their  boys  or  even  to  advise  them  in  their 
choice.  As  a  consequence  they  are  allowed  to  take  up 
the  first  position  they  hear  of,  very  often  with  unfortunate 
results.  Easily  found  and  well-paid  occupations  for  chil- 
dren have  no  prospects,  and  the  economic  future  is  sac- 
rificed for  present  gain.  A  consideration  of  these  facts  has 
led  to  two  types  of  organization  which  have  for  their  object 
the  giving  of  direct  vocational  guidance  at  this  critical 
stage. 

Another  important  factor  in  our  present  problem  is  the 


36  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

frequent  misinterpretation  by  Americans  of  foreign  sys- 
tems of  industrial  schools.  There  is  no  more  complicated 
subject  than  the  study  of  foreign  educational  systems. 
It  is  difficult  if  not  impossible  for  the  student  to  project 
himself  into  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the  country  whose 
system  he  is  investigating.  He  finds  it  hard  tov  delve  deep 
enough  to  discover  the  real  causes  which  have  brought 
about  the  adoption  of  certain  plans  and  the  accomplish- 
ment of  certain  results.  The  English  system  of  industrial 
and  technical  education  was  admittedly  planned  to  follow 
closely  the  German  system,  yet  the  most  cursory  exami- 
nation of  the  two  will  show  that  they  are  widely  apart;  and 
unless  care  be  exercised  the  American  people  will  be  mis- 
taking the  shadow  for  the  substance  in  their  imitations  of 
the  German  system. 

When  deputations  and  delegations  visit  American  cities, 
they  are  carefully  driven  round  those  districts  which  con- 
tain the  most  beautiful  residences,  parks,  and  public  build- 
ings. They  are  taken  in  charge  by  guides  who  have  pre- 
viously made  up  their  minds  that  the  visitors  shall  see 
nothing  but  the  best.  Only  the  painstaking  independent 
investigator  can  discover  things  as  they  really  are.  Much 
the  same  plan  has  been  followed  in  educational  investiga- 
tions. Attention  has  been  concentrated  on  the  large  towns 
and  imposing  institutions,  and  as  a  result  altogether  wrong 
impressions  have  been  formed. 

As  a  striking  example  of  these  wrong  impressions  based 
on  superficial  investigation,  take  the  following  from  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Apprenticeships  of  the  Lon- 
don (England)  County  Council:  "A  special  feature  is  the 
close  cooperation  which  exists  in  the  United  States  be- 
tween the  employers  and  the  trade  schools.  ...  In  many 
instances  the  only  way  of  entry  into  the  workshop  is 
through  the  door  of  one  or  other  of  these  institutions." 
(The  italics  are  mine.)  This  is  evidently  the  result  of  an 
impression,  based  on  hasty  examination,  that  schools  of 


THE  PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS    37 

engineering  are  trade  schools.  Again,  Mr.  Mosely  tells  us 
in  his  report  that  "the  aim  of  education  in  America  (U.S.) 
is  to  make  every  boy  fit  for  some  definite  calling  in  life." 
Could  anything  be  wider  of  the  mark  as  descriptive  of  the 
real  situation?  If  this  criticism  were  true,  the  present 
movement  toward  industrial  education  would  not  be  at 
all  necessary.  National  conceit  and  self-complacency  tend 
to  make  us  hug  these  misconceptions,  and  we  accept  them 
willingly  and  gladly  as  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  real 
state  of  affairs.  : 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  it  will  be  well  to  state 
what  should  be  the  aims  and  objects  of  industrial  education. 
These  may  be  summarized  as  follows:  — 

1.  To  teach  a  boy  (or  girl)  how  to  earn  a  living  or  aid 
him  in  doing  so,  in  order  that  he  may  live  a  worthy  life  and 
become  a  good  citizen,  self-support  being  the  first  obliga- 
tion of  citizenship  and  the  necessary  prerequisite  to  a  wider 
and  more  useful  service  to  the  community. 

2.  To  enable  the  workman  to  render  better  service  to 
his  employer,  and  so  entitle  him  to  receive  greater  remu- 
neration in  the  position  he  at  present  occupies. 

3.  To  inspire  him  with  the  ambition,  and  to  equip  him 
with  the  knowledge  and  skill,  that  will  enable  him  to  rise 
from  his  present  position  to  a  higher  one. 

4.  To  develop  that  industrial  elasticity  or  adaptability 
which  will  permit  him  to  change  readily  from  one  occupa- 
tion or  branch  to  another,  should  new  inventions,  changes 
in  machinery,  or  economic  conditions  render  it  desirable. 

5.  To  give  an  all-round  intelligent  view  of  the  whole  of 
a  trade,  and  thus  counteract  the  narrowing  and  blighting 
influence  of  the  present  minute  subdivision  of  labor,  which 
will  probably  increase  rather  than  diminish. 

6.  To  provide  a  supply  of  skilled  labor  and  to  lessen  the 
great  economic  waste  in  the  industries  arising  from  the 
practice  of  stealing  a  trade,  and  from  incompetence  and 
ignorance. 


38  INDUSTBIAL  EDUCATION 

Our  subject  is  one  with  many  phases,  —  complex  and 
multiplex,  —  and  it  will  have  to  be  resolved  into  its  com- 
ponent parts,  and  the  problems  of  each  met  squarely  and 
solved  separately.  In  view  of  what  has  been  said,  the  prob- 
lem seems  to  consist  of  the  following  elements:  — 

1.  Placing  the  schools  and  all  educational  organizations 
on  a  purely  business  basis  so  that  the  greatest  possible 
return,  both  hi  a  material  and  moral  sense,  may  be  secured 
from  the  investment.  ^ 

2.  A  reorganization  of  the  elementary  school  curricu- 
lum in  such  a  manner  as  will 

(a)  give  a  direct  industrial  trend  to  the  instruction 
afforded  and  an  industrial  bent  to  the  mind  of  the 
future  industrial  worker; 

(6)  afford  at  least  the  same  measure  of  culture  as  is 
now  imparted; 

(c)  inspire  an  ambition,  amongst  those  who  have  the 
ability  to  do  so,  to  proceed  to  higher  institutions 
of  learning; 

(d)  serve  to  correlate  school  and  home  interests  more 
closely  so  that  there  will  be  a  mutual  reaction. 

3.  The  enactment  and  rigid  enforcement  of  compulsory 
attendance  laws  up  to  the  age  of  fourteen. 

4.  The  exercise  of  a  reasonable  amount  of  compulsion  in 
securing  the  attendance,  for  a  limited  number  of  hours 
each  week,  at  approved  day  schools,  of  all  up  to  the  age 
of  at  least  sixteen  years. 

5.  Recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  vast  majority  of  the 
industrial  workers  do  not  enter  a  high  school,  but  leave  the 
elementary  school  at  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of  age  and 
receive  no  further  systematic  educational  training. 

6.  The  provision  of  a  type  of  school  which  shall  train  the 
boy  and  the  girl  from  thirteen  or  fourteen  to  sixteen  years 
of  age,  directly  for  the  industries,  and  to  see  that  financial 
considerations  do  not  prevent  the  attendance  of  any  who 
are  desirous  of  taking  advantage  of  the  instruction  offered. 


THE   PROBLEM  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  ASPECTS    39 

7.  The  reorganization  and  revitalization  of  evening  in- 
dustrial continuation  schools  for  the  purpose  of  giving  defi- 
nite and  pertinent  instruction  to  those  engaged  in  the 
industries  during  the  day,  and  the  making  of  such  arrange- 
ments that  the  conditions  of  their  labor  will  permit  their 
attendance  at  the  schools  provided. 

8.  The  coordination  of  all  parts  of  the  educational  sys- 
tem from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university,  so  that  every 
individual  may  be  able  to  obtain  that  type  of  education, 
both  in  content  and  extent,  best  suited  to  his  needs  and 
requirements. 

9.  The  education  of  both  the  parent  and  the  boy  with 
a  view  of  showing  them  that  continued  education  is  worth 
while,  materially,  morally,  and  spiritually,  and  the  incul- 
cation of  the  idea  that  industrial  occupations  are  to  be 
desired  and  sought  rather  than  shunned. 

10.  The  adaptation,  rather  than  the  adoption  in  their 
entirety,  of  the  plans  and  schemes  of  foreign  countries. 

11.  The  development  of  a  rational  system  of  apprentice- 
ship in  all  industries  to  which  it  can  be  economically  and 
beneficially  applied. 

12.  The  provision  of  a  measure  of  expert  guidance  so 
that  an  intelligent  and  wise  choice  of  an  occupation  may 
be  made. 


PART  II 
THE  METHODS 


Ill 

THE  ELEMENTARY   SCHOOLS  AND  THEIR 
REVITALIZATION 

IN  view  of  the  large  expenditures  previously  mentioned,  it 
is  not  unfair  to  regard  the  schools  as  a  business  concern,  in 
which  certain  sums  of  money  have  been  hi  vested,  and  from 
which  the  investors  (in  this  case  the  community  at  large) 
have  a  perfect  and  undeniable  right  to  expect  adequate 
returns.  In  the  management  of  an  ordinary  business  many 
economic  tests  are  applied  which  cannot,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  be  applied  to  the  schools,  but  there  are  some 
which  can  and  might  be  so  applied  with  beneficial  results. 
Amongst  these  are:  — 

1.  An  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  finished  product. 

2.  Installation  of  an  equipment  best  designed  to  turn 
out  the  product  required. 

3.  Use  of  the  equipment  to  its  maximum  capacity,  all  the 
working  hours  of  the  day  and  all  the  working  days  of  the 
year. 

What  is  the  value  of  the  finished  product  of  the  primary 
schools?  Do  these  schools  turn  out  any  finished  product? 
Were  they  designed  to  turn  out  any  finished  product?  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  were  never  intended  to  produce  a 
finished  product  of  any  kind.  Their  purpose  was,  and  still 
is,  to  form  one  stage  of  the  educational  progress  from  the 
kindergarten  to  the  university.  It  is  perhaps  unfair  and 
unreasonable,  owing  to  the  limited  time  available  and  the 
immaturity  of  the  pupils,  to  expect  anything  of  the  nature 
of  a  completed  article,  but  it  is  surely  quite  legitimate  to 
ask  that  the  schools  should  adequately  prepare  for  the  next 
step,  and  that  that  step  should  be  one  which  the  large 


44  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

majority  of  the  pupils  are  able  and  willing  to  take.  In  the 
present  economic  and  social  condition  of  the  community 
the  step  available  to  the  majority,  after  leaving  the  ele- 
mentary school,  is  not  entry  into  higher  institutions  of 
learning. 

In  the  building  of  all  new  schools,  particularly  in  towns 
and  cities,  the  basements  should  be  so  arranged  that  they 
may  be  effectively  used  for  various  purposes,  including 
those  of  industrial  education.  These  purposes  should  be 
definitely  determined  before  the  building  is  erected.  It  is 
not  generally  wise  to  advocate  the  use  of  basement  rooms 
for  educational  purposes.  The  prevalent  impression  is  that 
a  room  in  a  cellar,  absolutely  unfit  for  the  teaching  of  any 
other  subject,  is  good  enough  for  a  shop.  This  has  done 
something  to  make  the  average  boy  look  upon  practical 
industry  with  contempt,  and  as  something  to  be  avoided 
if  possible.  But  it  is  essential  that  the  whole  of  an  expensive 
building  shall  be  economically  used,  and  when  planned  for 
a  definite  purpose,  which  is  previously  determined,  all  the 
conditions  required  can  be  secured  as  easily  in  the  basement 
as  in  any  other  part  of  the  building.  Of  course  in  this  plan- 
ning the  men  who  are  to  teach  in  the  rooms  and  who  know 
the  essential  requirements  should  be  consulted.  The  ordi- 
nary architect's  idea  of  suitable  classroom  and  workshop 
accommodation  is  not  generally  reliable. 

Every  school  should  have  an  assembly  room  that  could 
be  used  not  only  for  day-school  purposes  but  for  evening 
lectures,  entertainments,  and  other  social  functions.  This 
room  should  be  provided  with  an  optical  lantern  and  an 
opaque  screen.  If  the  room  have  shutters  or  opaque  blinds 
it  may  be  used  for  illustrated  lessons  in  geography,  history, 
and  many  other  subjects  in  the  daytime  as  well  as  in  the 
evening.  For  evening  use  it  is  a  decided  advantage  to  have 
an  entry  directly  from  the  street  into  the  lecture  room, 
in  order  that  the  remainder  of  the  building  may  be  kept 
closed,  if  necessary. 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    45 

The  building  should  be  open  every  night  in  the  week  and 
be  made  a  real  educational  and  social  centre  for  the  whole 
neighborhood.  A  gymnasium  is  also  a  useful  feature  of 
the  equipment,  and  if  the  classrooms  are  fitted  with  mov- 
able furniture  the  purposes  to  which  the  whole  building 
may  be  put  will  be  largely  increased.  A  study-room  for 
those  whose  home  surroundings  are  not  conducive  to  quiet 
work  has  in  many  cases  proved  a  desirable  addition.  Dur- 
ing the  long  summer  vacations  when  the  schools  are  usually 
closed,  vacation  schools  might  be  held.  Many  teachers 
would  be  glad  to  engage  in  this  form  of  work.  Continua- 
tion sessions  for  those  children  who  failed  to  secure  pro- 
motion in  the  day  schools  have  proved  most  successful 
in  some  districts.  If  plans  of  this  character  were  adopted, 
much  greater  returns  would  be  obtained  from  the  sums 
invested. 

In  view  of  the  large  numbers  leaving  the  elementary 
schools  at  or  before  the  completion  of  the  course,  and  the 
economic  folly  of  sacrificing  the  interests  of  the  eighty  per 
cent  to  those  of  the  twenty  per  cent  who  proceed  to  the  sec- 
ondary schools,  it  becomes  proper  to  inquire  how  the  edu- 
cation given  can  be  made  more  directly  beneficial  to  the 
greater  number.  The  dominant  life  of  the  people  should  be 
the  basis  of  the  whole  organization.  If  the  schools  cannot 
be  managed  so  as  to  give  equal  opportunities  to  all,  then, 
according  to  all  principles  of  democracy,  they  should  be  so 
organized  as  to  give  adequate  opportunity  to  the  major- 
ity. This  can  really  be  done  without  in  the  least  sacrificing 
the  interests  of  the  minority.  The  measures  called  for  by 
the  existing  situation  are:  — 

1.  Reorganization  of  the  course  of  study  with  the  object 
of  giving  to  it  a  direct  industrial  trend,  and  a  decided  in- 
dustrial bent  to  the  mind  of  the  boy. 

The  very  word  "industrial"  is  suggestive  of  work,  but 
school  and  work  are  not  at  present  synonymous  terms. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  school  discourages  work.  Every 


46  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

subject  taught  and  the  methods  adopted  are  carefully 
designed  and  framed  to  remove  all  difficulties.  As  long  ago 
as  1889  the  following  passage  occurred  in  an  educational 
magazine,  and  the  situation  has  not  materially  changed 
since:  — 

Even  the  very  branches  of  the  old-fashioned  school  days  are  now 
sweetened  (?)  to  the  mental  appetite  by  titles  that  savor  strongly 
of  Mother  Goose  and  the  days  of  baby  talk.  Arithmetic  is  now 
"number  work";  geography,  "place  lessons";  grammar,  "lan- 
guage lessons"  or  "ear  culture";  spelling,  "talking  with  a  pen- 
cil"; reading,  "what  does  the  story  say?"  or  "sentence  pictur- 
ing "  or  "  talking  through  the  eye  gate."  The  road  to  knowledge  is 
no  longer  rocky  and  uneven,  it  is  boulevarded  in  the  highest  style 
of  the  art.  In  short,  the  whole  art  of  teaching  in  the  public  schools 
is  "wheedling  children  into  knowledge  without  their  knowing 
it,"  bringing  everything  ready-made  to  the  mind,  sugar-coating 
every  difficulty,  turning  the  teacher  into  a  variety  show  of  "sound- 
ing brass  and  tinkling  cymbal,"  and  pleasing  the  child  with  a  rattle 
or  tickling  him  with  a  splint.  The  psychologizing  philosophers 
who  are  responsible  for  such  stuff  in  the  public  schools  ought  to 
learn  at  once  that  the  human  brain  also  works  out  of  school,  and 
that  many  things  now  taught  (?)  therein  are  sure  to  be  learned  by 
the  education  of  the  home,  the  street,  the  playground,  by  associa- 
tion and  by  contact  with  men  and  outside  things.  To  spend  time 
over  matters  in  school,  which,  when  the  school  gives  right  habits 
of  work,  are  sure  to  be  learned  out  of  school,  is  sheer  folly,  a  frit- 
tering of  energy,  a  sheer  waste  of  time.  These  men  of  hobbies 
ought  also  to  know  that  when  the  principle  of  making  easy  and 
interesting  is  pushed  to  the  length  of  not  requiring  pupils  to  learn 
anything  but  what  has  been  made  easy  and  interesting,  one  of  the 
chief  objects  of  education  is  sacrificed.  And  furthermore  the  new 
system  of  teaching,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  training  up  a  race  of  men 
who  will  be  incapable  of  doing  anything  which  is  disagreeable  to 
them.  The  sooner  such  methods  are  swept  out  of  the  schools  the 
sooner  will  the  latter  regain  their  place  in  the  public  regard  and 
confidence. 

Of  course  in  all  this  there  is  gross  exaggeration,  but  it 
contains  elements  of  truth  and  appropriateness  which  we 
shall  do  well  not  to  ignore. 
The  work  done  in  the  elementary  schools  is  governed 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    47 

very  largely  by  the  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  teacher,  but 
theorists  in  education  seem  to  have  lost  all  idea  of  the 
limited  time  available  and  have  argued  as  though  that  time 
were  unlimited.  That  the  time  is  limited  is  true,  but  if  the 
curriculum  were  modified  and  reorganized,  this  limited  time 
could  be  considerably  extended.  With  a  curriculum  hygien- 
ically,  logically,  and  educationally  planned,  an  extension  of 
the  school  day  would  work  no  hardship  to  the  children  in 
the  last  four  grades.  Are  more  than  two  months'  holidays 
really  necessary?  At  present  it  seems  to  be  nine  months' 
rush  and  three  months'  rust.  With  properly  ventilated 
and  cooled  rooms  and  a  curriculum  of  the  right  kind,  there 
would  be  far  less  danger  to  health  and  general  morale  in 
conducting  the  school  continuously  than  is  incurred  in  the 
practice  of  allowing  children  to  run  wild  for  two  months 
with  generally  very  little  control. 

Besides  the  loss  of  actual  time,  every  teacher  knows, 
whether  she  will  admit  it  or  not,  that  it  takes  from  two 
weeks  to  two  months  to  bring  the  pupils  back  to  the  ed- 
ucational condition  in  which  they  were  when  the  schools 
closed  for  vacation.  The  educational  loss  that  occurs  during 
this  prolonged  vacation  probably  accounts  in  a  very  large 
measure  for  the  general  complaint  of  each  grade  teacher, 
that  the  work  of  the  previous  grade  has  been  ill-prepared. 
I  well  remember  the  dread  with  which,  as  a  teacher  in 
England  many  years  ago,  I  went  back  to  school  after  vaca- 
tion (only  one  month)  lest  the  government  inspector,  a  per- 
son much  to  be  dreaded  in  those  days,  should  choose  the 
first  week  after  the  reopening,  for  his  annual  inspection. 

Now  let  us  take  the  various  subjects  in  the  school  curric- 
ulum with  the  object  of  showing  what  is  meant  by  giving 
to  them  an  industrial  trend. 

Certainly  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  can  be  taught 
in  such  a  way  as  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  the  child  in  a 
practical  direction. 

Stories  of  manufactures,  descriptions  of  the  making  of 


48  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

common  objects  with  the  use  of  which  the  children  are 
familiar,  the  lives  of  inventors  and  scientists,  as  well  as 
accounts  of  the  rise  of  various  industries,  could  all  be  used 
after  the  third  or  fourth  grade,  and  the  art  of  reading  as 
well  taught  by  them  as  by  the  scraps  and  excerpts  now 
generally  in  vogue. 

While  the  average  type  of  newspaper  can  hardly  be  ad- 
vocated for  general  school  use,  why  should  there  not  be 
published  in  every  State  or  Province  a  school  newspaper 
once  a  week.  This  might  treat  of  current  events,  matters 
of  State  and  city  government,  educational  affairs,  healthy 
amusements,  and  a  number  of  other  things  that  boys  and 
girls  get  in  an  objectionable  form  from  the  ordinary  news- 
paper. One  sheet  of  this  paper  might  be  devoted  to  purely 
local  affairs.  In  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  grades 
extracts  from  Ruskin,  Morris,  and  the  other  great  in- 
dustrial authors  would  prove  of  service  in  this  connec- 
tion. 

Writing  consists  of  two  parts,  penmanship  and  composi- 
tion. The  former  will  continue  to  be  taught  (where  it  is 
taught)  in  the  traditional  way,  but  the  old  copybook  max- 
ims might  well  be  replaced  by  industrial  ones  which  would 
teach  the  same  moral  truths.  In  teaching  composition 
and  essay-writing,  the  field  of  industry  offers  unlimited 
opportunity.  Composition  should  always  be  written  out 
of  the  fullness  of  knowledge,  and  while  the  aesthetic  and 
beautiful  ought  by  no  means  to  be  ignored,  industrial 
subjects  should  be  given  prominence.  There  is  as  much 
beauty  in  a  well-designed  and  constructed  building  as  in  a 
gorgeous  sunset,  though  it  is  of  a  different  character  and 
we  have  not  been  trained  to  see  it. 

There  would  not  be  much  harm  done  if  all  formal  gram- 
mar in  the  elementary  school  were  abolished  and  the 
subject  taught  entirely  through  composition;  visits  to  fac- 
tories, descriptions  of  manufacturing  processes,  the  great 
stores,  shops,  and  machines,  the  use  of  tools  and  how  to 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    49 

make  things,  afford  better  subjects  for  composition  than 
many  of  those  usually  given. 

All  arithmetic  should  be  taught  as  graphically  as  pos- 
sible, and  in  view  of  the  competition  and  struggle  of  modern 
industry  few  subjects  of  school  instruction  have  more  direct 
bearing  on  the  future  career  of  all  children  than  the  art  of 
calculation.  It  is  he  who  is  quickest  and  most  expert  in 
this  respect,  whether  in  the  market,  workshop,  warehouse, 
or  office,  that  has  the  greatest  prospect  of  success,  and 
though  "ready  reckoners  "  are  common,  yet  the  art  of  rapid 
calculation  is  indispensable. 

We  are,  of  course,  reminded  here  that  our  future  lawyers, 
doctors,  and  ministers  study  mathematics  for  intellectual 
culture,  but  we  cannot  help  thinking  that  some  of  them 
might  well  have  a  little  less  mathematics  and  a  little  more 
training  in  the  art  of  lucid  expression  and  public  speak- 
ing. 

The  French  Revolution  was  responsible  for  many  things 
both  good  and  bad,  but  one  of  the  greatest  benefits  ever 
conferred  upon  the  French  people  was  the  abolition  of  the 
old  monetary  system  and  weights  and  measures,  and  the 
introduction  of  the  present  metric  system,  which  has  done 
much  to  facilitate  trade  and  commerce,  and  to  simplify 
arithmetical  calculations,  thus  saving  a  vast  amount  of 
time  and  money.  No  Frenchman  would  think  of  restoring 
to  the  school  curriculum  the  discarded  system,  in  order  to 
give  additional  practice  to  the  child  in  arithmetical  calcu- 
lation. 

In  our  schools  we  could  do  quite  well  with  a  less  amount 
of  complex  and  continued  fractions,  circulating  decimals, 
puzzles,  catches,  and  other  academic  problems,  never  met 
with  outside  the  classroom  and  the  arithmetic  book.  In 
place  of  these  we  might  have  more  questions  and  prob- 
lems framed  in  the  language  and  phraseology  of  the  market, 
the  shop,  and  industry  in  general,  such  as  current  prices 
of  goods,  making  out  estimates  for  work  (current  rate  of 


50  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

wages),  earnings  of  workmen  and  tradesmen,  fluctuations  in 
wages,  etc. 

As  a  practical  example  of  what  is  meant,  take  the  "Lud- 
low  Textile  Arithmetic,"  a  volume  of  122  pages.  In  this 
work  every  problem  has  a  direct  application  in  the  mill, 
mill  terms  are  used,  and  much  information  is  given  relating 
to  mill  processes  and  materials;  but  with  all  this,  arith- 
metic is  taught,  and  at  least  as  much  culture  and  mental 
training  are  obtained  by  this  method  as  by  using  problems 
that  have  no  life  connection.  A  manual  of  this  character 
could  be  prepared  for  each  trade  or  group  of  trades,  and  a 
public  school  arithmetic  might  contain  a  selection  from 
each.  This  book  may  be  considered  as  marking  an  epoch 
in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  for  practical  purposes.  It 
treats  arithmetic  industrially,  while  at  the  same  time  retain- 
ing all  the  mental  gymnastics  that  are  really  necessary. 
Good  as  the  authors  of  the  book  have  made  it,  they  have 
not  been  able  to  rid  themselves  entirely  of  the  baneful  influ- 
ence of  academic  tradition,  for  they  state  in  their  preface 
that "  fractions  have  been  treated  in  detail,  although  they 
are  used  to  a  limited  extent  in  the  mills." 

When  science  is  taken  it  should  be  industrial.  Chemis- 
try should  be  related  to  agriculture,  the  manufactures,  and 
the  activities  of  the  household;  physics  and  mechanics  to 
movements  of  machines,  mechanical  motions;  electricity 
applied  to  practical  purposes;  and  drawing  to  every  form 
of  industry  in  which  it  is  used. 

We  are  told  by  the  culturists  that  the  formal  aim  in 
education  should  be  considered  more  important  than  the 
material  aim.  There  are  many  university  graduates  who 
are  comparative  failures  in  business  and  industry  and  many 
cases  of  learned  men  who  are  as  ignorant  as  babes  in  the 
practical  affairs  of  life.  I  am  acquainted  with  a  very  esti- 
mable man  who  holds  an  M.A.  degree  from  a  world-famed 
university,  and  who  is  learned  in  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew, 
and  all  the  "ologies."  He  will  sit  wrapped  in  his  books,  let 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    51 

the  fire  die  out,  wonder  why  he  is  cold,  and  yet  not  have  the 
practical  sense  to  get  up  and  put  coal  on. 

Take  next  the  teaching  of  geography.  Much  of  what  is 
taught  at  present  is  "useless  ballast."  Why  do  we  require 
information  about  all  the  rivers  and  their  tributaries?  If 
ever  in  practical  life  we  mention  rivers,  it  is  either  when 
they  are  navigable,  and  thus  of  use  to  industry,  or  cause 
trouble  and  danger  by  floods.  The  bulk  of  the  geography 
required  for  use  is  mercantile,  and  attention  might  be  con- 
centrated on  that.  Natural  products,  places  from  which 
they  come  and  to  which  they  go,  ports  and  harbors,  these 
are  matters  of  interest  and  of  practical  importance.  Sup- 
pose we  make  more  of  the  great  railways  and  methods  of 
transportation.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  the  geo- 
graphy ever  required  for  practical  purposes  can  be  logic- 
ally and  scientifically  evolved  from  the  great  question  of 
transportation . 

As  a  rational  method  of  teaching  history  applied  to  a 
specific  industry,  take  that  adopted  in  the  school  of  the 
Ludlow  Manufacturing  Company ,  Ludlow,  Massachusetts. 
This  is  a  school  situated  in  a  small  town  which  is  devoted 
almost  entirely  to  the  prosecution  of  the  textile  industry. 
The  history  taught  is  evolved  from  the  work  carried  on 
in  the  mills.  The  following  are  some  of  the  headings  under 
which  the  instruction  is  given:  the  methods  of  clothing 
adopted  by  savage  races;  the  development  of  the  industry 
including  modern  textile  machinery  and  the  steam  engine; 
general  industrial  development  in  England  and  the  United 
States;  the  home  industry  stage  and  the  growth  of  the  fac- 
tory system  and  a  comparison  of  the  factory  acts  of  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States.  This  is  history  of  a  most  vital 
and  intellectual  character. 

The  science  is  also  definitely  related  to  the  work  in  the 
mill.  In  physics  the  pupils  examine  and  grade  fibres,  use 
the  calibrating  scales,  measure  and  weigh  joye  and  yarn, 
test  the  strength  of  fibres  and  make  tests  for  moisture. 


52  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

From  such  experiments  as  these  the  public  schools  may 
learn  much. 

In  the  poorer  quarters  of  the  large  cities  a  number  of  the 
pupils  are  engaged  in  work  of  various  kinds  outside  of 
school  hours  and  during  vacations.  This  work  frequently 
offers  an  excellent  method  of  approach  for  practical  train- 
ing of  a  very  intense  kind.  With  reference  to  this  Dean 
Davenport  says :  — 

Does  a  boy  sell  papers  after  school  hours?  Why  should  that 
fact  not  be  officially  known  and  recognized  as  a  factor  in  his  edu- 
cation? Why  should  he  not  report  on  it  regularly  —  the  number 
and  kinds  of  papers  sold,  the  place  and  the  customers,  whether 
regular  or  special,  cost  and  profit,  together  with  the  disposal  of 
the  proceeds? 

The  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  the  State 
of  Nebraska  has  recently  issued  a  letter  to  his  school  officers 
and  teachers.  In  this  he  describes  s^plaa  which  is  being 
followed,  with  much  success,  in  several  of  the  schools  in  the 
State.  The  plan  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  there 
should  be  an  intimate  connection  between  the  work  of  the 
school  and  that  of  the  home.  He  contends  that  the  school 
should  give  credit  for  industrial  work  done  in  the  home. 
The  home  duties  and  the  amount  of  school  credit  given 
therefor  in  the  Spring  Valley  School,  a  country  district  in 
Polk  County,  are  these:  — 

Building  fire  in  the  morning,  five  minutes;  milking  a  cow,  five 
minutes;  cleaning  out  the  barn,  ten  minutes;  turning  cream  sep- 
arator, ten  minutes;  splitting  and  carrying  in  wood  (twelve  hours' 
supply),  ten  minutes;  cleaning  horse  (each  horse),  ten  minutes; 
gathering  eggs,  ten  minutes;  feeding  chickens,  five  minutes;  feed- 
ing pigs,  horses,  or  cows,  five  minutes;  churning  butter,  ten  min- 
utes; making  butter,  ten  minutes;  blacking  stove,  five  minutes; 
making  and  baking  bread,  one  hour;  making  biscuits,  ten  min- 
utes; preparing  breakfast  for  the  family,  thirty  minutes;  prepar- 
ing supper  for  the  family,  thirty  minutes;  washing  and  drying 
dishes  (one  meal),  fifteen  minutes;  sweeping  floor,  five  minutes; 
dusting  furniture  (rugs,  etc.,  one  room),  five  minutes;  scrubbing 
floor,  twenty  minutes;  making  beds  (must  be  made  after  school), 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    53 

each  bed  five  minutes;  washing,  ironing,  and  starching  clothes  that 
are  worn  at  school,  each  week,  two  hours;  bathing,  each  bath, 
thirty  minutes;  arriving  at  school  with  clean  hands,  face,  teeth, 
and  nails,  and  with  hair  combed,  ten  minutes;  practising  music 
lesson  for  thirty  minutes,  ten  minutes;  retiring  at  or  before  nine 
o'clock,  five  minutes;  bathing  and  dressing  baby,  ten  minutes; 
sleeping  with  window  boards  in  bed  room,  each  night,  five  min- 
utes; other  work  not  listed,  reasonable  credit.  Prizes  are  given 
to  the  pupils  earning  the  most  credits. 

The  conditions  and  rules  of  the  contest  are  given  below :  — 

1.  No  pupil  is  obliged  to  enter  the  contest. 

2.  Any  pupil  entering  is  free  to  discontinue  at  any  time,  but  if 
any  do  so  without  good  cause,  all  credits  earned  will  be  forfeited. 

3.  The  parent  or  guardian  must  send  an  itemized  list  (with  sig- 
nature affixed)  to  the  teacher  each  morning.    This  list  must 
contain  the  record  of  the  work  each  child  has  done  daily. 

4.  Each  day  the  teacher  will  issue  a  credit  voucher  to  the  pupil. 
This  voucher  will  state  the  total  number  of  minutes  credited 
to  the  pupil  on  that  day  for  home  work. 

'  5.  At  the  close  of  the  contest,  pupils  will  return  the  vouchers 
to  the  teacher,  the  six  pupils  who  have  earned  the  greatest 
amount  of  time  per  the  vouchers,  receiving  awards. 

6.  The  contest  closes  when  the  school  term  closes. 

7.  Once  each  month  the  names  of  the  six  pupils  who  are  at  the 
head  of  the  list  will  be  published  in  the  country  papers. 

8.  Ten  per  cent  will  be  added  to  the  final  examination  results  of 
all  pupils  (except  eighth  graders)  who  enter  and  continue  in 
the  contest. 

9.  When  the  pupil  has  earned  credits  to  the  amount  of  one  day, 
by  surrender  of  the  credits  and  upon  proper  application  to 
the  teacher,  he  may  be  granted  a  holiday,  provided  that  not 
more  than  one  holiday  may  be  granted  to  a  pupil  each  month. 

10.  Forfeitures  —  dropping  out  of  contest  without  cause,  all  cred- 
its due;  unexcused  absence,  all  credits  due;  less  than  ninety 
per  cent  in  deportment  in  one  month,  ten  per  cent  off  of  all 
credits  due. 

11.  Awards  —  The  three  pupils  having  the  highest  credits,  $3 
each;  the  three  having  second  highest,  $2  each.  The  amount 
awarded  will  be  placed  in  a  savings  bank  to  the  credit  of  the 
pupil  winning  it.  The  funds  out  of  which  the  awards  will  be 
made  are  provided  by  the  school  district  board,  from  the  gen- 
eral school  funds. 


54  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Every  child  in  the  school  (thirty-one  in  number)  entered 
the  contest  and  faithfully  kept  up  the  home  work  through- 
out the  year.  Here  are  two  samples  of  reports  as  sent  in 
and  signed  by  the  parents:  — 

HENRY  DAVIDSON,  April  17, 1912.        EVANGELINE  JENNINGS,  April  16, 1912. 

Min.  Min. 

Milked  cows  20  Prepared  supper  80 

Curried  horses  10  Washed  and  dried  dishes  15 

Hunted  eggs  10  Gathered  the  eggs  15 

Fed  chickens  10  Fed  the  chickens  5 

Fed  pigs  10  Put  separator  together  10 

Fed  horses  10  Turned  separator  10 

Fed  cows  10  Made  one  bed  5 

Cut  wood  10  Cleaned  my  teeth  10 

To  bed  before  9  5  Retired  before  9  5 

95  105 

\  (Signed)  MRS.  DAVIDSON.  (Signed)  MRS.  JENNINGS. 

The  parents  are  enthusiastic  over  the  results.  They,  the 
teacher,  and  the  pupils  are  working  together  as  a  unit,  and 
here  at  least  the  problem  of  an  intimate  correlation  between 
the  school  and  the  home  seems  to  have  been  solved.  The 
teacher,  Mr.  O'Reilly,  says:  — 

This  contest  plan  ought  to  be  contagious,  for  it  is  the  best  thing 
I  have  ever  tried  in  the  way  of  getting  the  children  completely  in 
sympathy  with  both  school  and  home  duties.  It  is  not  my  inten- 
tion to  give  full  credit  for  time  necessarily  spent  in  home  duties. 
I  have  explained  to  the  children  that  it  is  best  to  go  out  into  the 
world  expecting,  if  necessary,  to  give  more  than  they  get.  I  am 
planning  my  forfeitures  with  the  good  of  the  school  in  view.  The 
plan  is  an  agreement  between  the  pupil  and  myself.  If  he  fails  to 
live  up  to  his  part  of  it,  he  learns  that  this  failure  works  a  real 
hardship  upon  him.  Perhaps  I  am  teaching  some  practical  law 
here.  The  plan  of  awards  has  started  them  upon  a  commercial 
future  and  has  resulted  in  my  having  to  tell  them  all  about  savings 
accounts.  The  plan  is  going  without  a  hitch. 

2.  We  have  now  dealt  with  the  reorganization  of  the 
elementary  school  curriculum,  with  special  reference  to  the 
methods  of  treating  the  various  subjects.  The  next  step 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    55 

called  for  is  the  introduction  of  more  handwork  of  a  vital 
and  definite  character.  This  should  not  be  restricted  to 
grades  seven  and  eight,  but,  commencing  with  grade  one 
should  permeate  the  whole  organization.  W.  E.  Roberts, 
in  the  "Manual  Training  Magazine,"  aptly  states  the  case 
as  follows:  — 

One  of  the  most  surprising  facts  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  education  is  the  almost  universal  failure  of  educators  to  recog- 
nize the  significance  of  activity  as  a  factor  in  educational  work. 
Three  truths  incident  to  human  advancement  stand  out  with  per- 
fect distinctness:  First,  that  the  progress  of  civilization  has  paral- 
leled the  development  of  certain  activities  or  occupations  in  which 
hand  expression  is  the  dominant  factor;  second,  that  the  signifi- 
cant effective  advance  of  society  to-day  is  expressed  very  largely 
in  terms  of  action  —  through  mentally  directed  bodily  activity; 
and  third,  that  the  natural  tendency  of  the  child  is  to  express 
himself  concretely  —  by  doing.  And  yet,  despite  these  truths, 
our  public  school  courses  and  methods  fail  almost  universally  to 
recognize  the  great  factor  of  activity  in  the  development  of  the 
child. 

Activity  should  have  an  important  place  in  the  work  of  the 
schools,  not  as  a  separate  course  added  to,  and  apart  from,  other 
subjects,  as  drawing  and  manual  training  have  largely  been,  but 
as  the  unifying  element,  the  basis  of  other  school  work.  The  term 
"activity"  also  should  have  a  broader  significance  than  that 
which  comes  within  the  confines  of  the  occupational  work  of  the 
schools  alone.  The  actual  life  of  the  child  should  be  brought  into 
the  service  of  the  schools,  and  every  day  of  the  pupil's  life,  in 
school  and  out,  should  naturally  present  problems,  the  solution 
of  which  will  demand  a  knowledge  of  what  is  essential  in  the 
so-called  academic  subjects.  School  work  will  thus  be  vitalized, 
for  the  pupil  will  find  knowledge  desirable  because  immediately 
necessary  to  success  in  affairs  that  appeal  to  his  interests. 

3.  The  school  library  lists  should  be  revised  so  as  to 
include  stories  of  industrial,  agricultural,  and  commercial 
life,  lives  of  inventors  and  the  history  of  their  inventions, 
and  the  thousand  and  one  things  about  the  practical  life 
around  them  that  boys  and  girls  will  be  the  better  for  know- 
ing. Of  course,  we  shall  be  told  that  a  reading  book  exists 


66  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

for  the  purpose  of  teaching  pupils  to  read  and  not  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  them  information;  but  if  reading  is  taught 
properly,  the  matter  read  will  be  understood,  and  during 
the  process  much  information  will  be  absorbed,  and  why 
should  not  the  information  thus  gained  relate  directly  to 
the  life  to  be  lived  and  worked  ? 

4.  Systematic   instruction   relating   to   the   character, 
scope,  purpose,  and  opportunities  of  the  various  trades  and 
industries  should  be  given  in  the  higher  grades. 

5.  Expert  advice  and  assistance  should  be  available  at 
the  close  of  the  elementary  school  course  regarding  the  de- 
sirability of  continued  education  or  the  choice  of  a  trade. 
If  properly  treated,  no  question  can  be  made  of  more  vital 
interest  to  a  boy  than  the  means  by  which  his  livelihood  is 
to  be  secured. 

6.  Visits  should  be  paid,  under  proper  direction,  to 
local  factories  and  industries.  These  industries  should  be 
previously  described,  in  order  to  prevent  aimless  and  pur- 
poseless wandering.  The  observations  made  might  well  be 
used  afterwards  as  the  foundation  on  which  composition 
exercises  are  to  be  written. 

7.  During  the  last  year  of  the  course  careful  inspection 
of  any  trade  or  industrial  schools  in  the  neighborhood  should 
be  made  and  the  advantages  of  attendance  at  such  schools 
pointed  out.   This  is  the  plan  followed  in  Milwaukee  in 
connection  with  its  School  of  Trades.  Illustrated  pam- 
phlets were  prepared  and  distributed.  The  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  of  forty-two  separate  district  schools  visited 
the  School  of  Trades  on  certain  specified  days.  The  visit 
was  made  thoroughly  and  systematically.  Every  boy  now 
knows  what  the  school  has  to  offer  him,  and  he  also  has 
information  which  will  enable  him  to  make  an  intelligent 
choice  either  of  a  trade  or  a  continuation  school. 

8.  Permission  should  be  granted  to  local  authorities  to 
modify  the  curriculum  in  order  the  better  to  adapt  it  to 
local  needs  and  requirements.  Uniformity  has  its  dangers 


REVITALIZATION  OF  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS    57 

as  well  as  its  advantages.  This,  of  course,  should  be 
done  under  the  direct  supervision  of  State  or  Provincial 
officers. 

9.  More  visual  instruction  should  be  given  by  the  aid  of 
the  stereopticon.   One  striking  feature  of  the  American 
town  to-day  is  the  ubiquity  of  the  moving-picture  show, 
and  from  its  popularity  and  success  we  can  surely  take  a 
lesson.  This  form  of  amusement  is  here  to  stay,  and,  instead 
of  agitating  against  its  baneful  influence,  efforts  should  be 
made  to  capture  it  for  educational  purposes.  The  interior 
workings  of   the  factory,   manufacturing  processes,  the 
working  of  great  government  departments,  natural  history, 
travel,  historic  and  current  events,  are  all  fit  subjects  for 
use  in  this  connection. 

10.  There  should  be  adopted  an  accurate  system  of  vital 
statistics  which  would  have  every  child  accounted  for,  his 
abilities  charted,  and  other  necessary  information  recorded. 
This  would  enable  each  succeeding  teacher  to  render  the 
best  service,  based  on  an  individual  knowledge  of  each 
pupil. 

If  new  plans  of  the  above  character  be  adopted,  attention 
will  have  to  be  given  to  their  development  in  the  institu- 
tions for  training  teachers,  and  serious  efforts  must  be  put 
forth  towards  securing  more  male  teachers.  This  last  is 
primarily  a  question  of  the  salaries  paid.  As  long  as  the 
opportunities  in  business  life  are  so  great,  and  the  salaries 
so  much  higher  than  those  that  can  be  obtained  in  the  teach- 
ing profession,  so  long  will  the  supply  of  male  teachers  be 
deficient,  and  the  teaching  profession  be  used  as  a  step- 
ping stone  to  more  highly  paid  occupations.  Time  for  the 
adoption  of  the  new  methods  in  the  normal  schools  may 
be  obtained  by  omitting  much  of  the  psychology,  child 
study,  and  the  history  of  education  now  imposed  and 
for  which  the  majority  of  the  embryo  teachers  find  very 
little  use. 

If  the  primary  schools  were  revitalized  somewhat  along 


58  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  lines  indicated,  they  would  be  able  to  offer  a  training 
that  would  be  of  equal  advantage  to  the  boy  who  has  to  go 
to  work  immediately  on  leaving  and  to  the  boy  who  is  able 
to  take  further  instruction.  A  real  foundation  would  be  laid 
for  further  training,  either  vocational  or  cultural.  A  sound 
body  of  practical  knowledge  would  be  imparted.  An  indus- 
trial bias  would  be  developed  and  an  ultimate  relationship 
established  between  the  school  and  the  affairs  of  practical 
life,  that  would  be  beneficial  both  to  the  schools  and  to  the 
pupils. 

Let  us  now  consider  briefly  the  question  of  compulsion. 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  present  laws  are 
not  enforced.  The  test  of  a  law  is  its  execution,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  theoretically  perfect  the  laws  on  the  statute  book 
may  be,  that  nation  is  uncivilized  and  without  law  if  those 
laws  are  not  carried  out.  The  rigid  and  impartial  admin- 
istration of  the  present  laws  would  do  much  to  extend  the 
sphere  of  influence  of  the  primary  schools.  Assuming  a  re- 
organization of  the  course,  the  adoption  of  new  methods, 
and  the  enforcement  of  the  present  laws,  then  the  raising  of 
the  school  age  is  perfectly  justifiable.  The  chief  argument 
against  this  is  the  possibility  of  hardship  to  the  parent  and 
the  home,  owing  to  the  loss  of  the  earnings  of  the  f ourteen- 
to  sixteen-year-old  boy  or  girl.  This  could  probably  be 
avoided  or  considerably  minimized  by  the  establishment, 
under  proper  safeguards,  of  a  generous  scheme  of  scholar- 
ships and  maintenance  allowances.  Educational  authori- 
ties are  coming  slowly,  and  the  practical  man  of  affairs 
rapidly,  to  the  conclusion  that  to  spend  many  millions  on 
primary  education  and  then  to  lose  all  control  of  the  child 
both  mentally  and  morally,  to  cast  him  adrift,  as  it  were, 
to  sink  or  swim,  is,  from  the  viewpoint  of  economics,  an  in- 
tolerable, wasteful,  and  extravagant  policy,  and  suicidal  to 
the  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  the  nation. 


IV 


MANUAL  TRAINING:  ITS  SUCCESSES,  ITS  FAILURES, 
AND  ITS'  ^REORGANIZATION  IN  RESPONSE  TO 
PRESENT'  CONDITIONS 

No  treatment  of  the  subject  of  "industrial  education" 
could  be  considered  as  even  partially  complete  without  a 
close  examination  of  what  is  known  as  the  "manual  train- 
ing" movement.  The  name  is  unfortunate  for  various  rea- 
sons, but  it  is  probably  too  well  established  to  make  a 
change  either  possible  or  desirable.  There  are  many  kinds 
of  hand  training,  and  unfortunately  the  possession  of  one 
kind  of  dexterity  does  not  imply  that  of  another.  If  this 
were  so,  then  would  cricket,  basket-ball,  tennis,  etc.,  be 
most  useful  forms  of  manual  training.  No  satisfactory 
definition  of  it  has  ever  been  given.  To  one  teacher  of 
the  subject  it  means  one  thing  and  to  another  something 
entirely  different.  When  men  who  have  studied  the  sub- 
ject for  years  are  at  variance,  how  can  it  be  expected  that 
the  ordinary  individual,  who  takes  only  a  casual  interest  in 
educational  affairs,  will  have  a  clear  conception  of  what  the 
term  connotes? 

The  subject,  like  most  other  educational  reforms,  was 
introduced  into  the  schools  from  the  top  —  the  manual 
training  high  schools,  mechanic  arts  high  schools,  and 
technical  high  schools.  These  schools  were  originally 
expected  to  train  the  higher  grades  of  industrial  workers, 
and  judged  by  this  standard  they  have  miserably  failed. 
They  have  been  a  sop  and  a  fraud  as  far  as  definite  indus- 
trial training  is  concerned.  They  have  been  attended  in 
the  majority  of  cases  by  those  who,  in  any  event,  would 
have  proceeded  to  a  high  school  and,  therefore,  their  estab- 


60  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

lishment  has  not  very  materially  increased  the  high  school 
enrollment  or  affected  the  elementary  school  population. 

No  opponent  of  these  schools  can  deny  that  they  have 
done  good  and  valuable  cultural  work,  but  as  a  means  to 
definite  vocational  and  industrial  training  they  have  proved 
a  bitter  disappointment.  Generally  speaking,  they  have 
given  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  cultural  and  classical  studies 
that  have  been  offered  in  the  ordinary  high  school,  and 
have  simply  added  work  with  hand  and  machine  tools,  and 
mechanical  drawing,  to  the  ordinary  curriculum.  Large 
sums  have  been  spent  on  the  most  elaborate  buildings  and 
costly  machinery,  while  the  same  practical  results  could 
have  been  accomplished  with  an  expenditure  of  less  than 
half  the  money. 

From  the  manual  training  high  school  the  subject  forced 
its  way  into  the  elementary  school  between  1887  and  1890, 
and  one  of  the  greatest  hindrances  to  its  growth  and  exten- 
sion has  been  the  exaggerated  ideas  that  were  formed  as  to 
the  results  to  be  expected  from  its  introduction.  Too  much 
has  been  claimed  and  too  much  anticipated.  When  we 
review  the  energy  that  has  been  put  into  the  propaganda, 
and  the  money  that  has  been  spent,  the  conclusion  is  forced 
upon  us  that  a  much  more  extensive  adoption  of  manual 
training  should  have  been  the  result. 

The  subject  has  not  been  taken  seriously  by  the  people, 
who  in  the  last  analysis  determine  educational  organiza^ 
tion  and  practice.  It  cannot  be  denied  that,  properly 
taught  and  organized,  manual  training  has  a  decided  place 
in  any  educational  system,  and  that  that  place  cannot  be 
filled  by  any  other  school  subject  hitherto  devised.  With 
a  reorganized  curriculum  its  function  would  become  still 
more  important. 

The  time  has  now  arrived  when  it  will  be  the  truest  edu- 
cational and  financial  economy,  and  in  the  best  interests  of 
all  concerned,  to  review  the  situation  and  attempt  to  dis- 
cover the  comparative  failure  of  this  most  important  sub- 


MANUAL   TRAINING  61 

ject  to  make  a  place  for  itself  in  every  school  system  in  the 
country.  The  subject  is  here  to  stay.  Real  educationists 
and  industrial  workers  who  have  studied  the  matter  closely 
and  sympathetically  are  justifiably  optimistic,  but  rational 
optimism  never  shuts  its  eyes  to  the  truth  and  always 
welcomes  any  critical  investigation  undertaken  with  the 
object  of  showing  the  road  to  greater  success. 

The  famous  Massachusetts  Commission,  in  investigat- 
ing the  subject  of  industrial  education,  did  not  consider  it 
necessary  to  devote  more  than  half  a  page  in  its  Report  to 
the  subject  of  manual  training.  This  is  all  the  more  remark- 
able when  it  is  considered  that  Massachusetts  is  a  state 
and  Boston  a  city  that  together  have  done  more  to  develop 
a  rational  system  than  probably  any  other  area  in  the 
world.  The  Report  says:  — 

The  wide  indifference  to  manual  training  as  a  school  subject  may 
be  due  to  the  narrow  views  which  have  prevailed  among  its  chief 
advocates.  It  has  been  urged  as  a  cultural  subject,  mainly  useful 
as  a  stimulus  to  other  forms  of  intellectual  effort  —  a  sort  of  mus- 
tard relish,  an  appetizer  —  to  be  conducted  without  reference  to 
any  industrial  end.  It  has  been  severed  from  real  life  as  com- 
pletely as  have  the  other  school  subjects.  Thus  it  has  come  about 
that  the  overmastering  influence  of  school  traditions  have  brought 
into  subjection  both  the  drawing  and  manual  work. 

The  only  consolation  the  manual  training,  advocate  can 
obtain  from  this  oft-quoted  opinion  is  that  manual  train- 
ing is  classed-with  other  school  subjects  and  that  all  alike 
are  accused  of  being  "severed  from  real  life."  There  is 
also  a  tacit  admission  that  a  relish  was  necessary  to  make 
the  ordinary  school  subjects  palatable. 

The  arguments  urged  for  the  introduction  of  manual 
training  were  deliberately  designed  to  satisfy  labor  organi- 
zations. It  was  loudly  proclaimed  that  the  subject  had 
nothing  to  do  with  teaching  a  trade,  that  it  had  no  connec- 
tion with  industry,  and  that  it  would  not  predispose  boys 
to  enter  mechanical  pursuits.  With  the  proposition  that 


62  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

manual  training  does  not,  cannot,  and  should  not  attempt 
to  teach  a  trade,  we  can  all  heartily  agree,  but  the  ideas  that 
it  has  no  connection  with  industry  and  that  it  will  not 
predispose  boys  to  enter  mechanical  pursuits,  will  not  to- 
day find  such  ready  acceptance.  If  manual  training  cannot 
be  justified  on  the  two  latter  grounds  as  well  as  on  the  purely 
cultural  side,  then  it  should  have  very  little  place  in  the 
training  of  boys  and  girls  —  the  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent 
who  get  no  further  training  than  the  elementary  schools 
can  give.  Superintendent  Maxwell,  of  New  York,  has 
said :  — 

The  attempt  now  being  made  in  some  quarters  to  separate 
manual  training  from  industrial  training  will  prove  a  dismal  fail- 
ure. It  is  only  through  manual  training  that  we  are  able  to  dis- 
cover those  who  have  any  aptitude  for  mechanical  pursuits. 

Our  industrial  training  should  begin  in  the  public  schools. 
It  is  there,  and  there  only,  that  the  pupils  can  have  given 
to  them  an  industrial  bias  and  bent,  which  will  lead  them  to 
consider  productive  industry  as  a  profitable  career  and  to 
investigate  the  prospects  that  it  has  to  offer  them.  It  is 
there  that  the  erroneous  ideas  they  have  regarding  indus- 
try in  general  can  be  corrected,  and  if  our  industrial  edu- 
cation is  to  have  a  solid  foundation  the  effect  of  a  sound 
scheme  of  manual  training  cannot  be  overestimated. 
Though  Germany  has  developed  its  scheme  of  industrial 
education  without  manual  training,  it  does  not  follow  that 
we  are  compelled  to  do  the  same.  Indeed,  if  we  are  to  have 
a  coordinated  system  suitable  to  our  industrial  conditions, 
we  cannot  ignore  this  part  of  it.  The  fact  is  'that  we  can 
retain  and  even  increase  all  the  cultural  training  that  the 
most  ardent  advocates  contend  for,  and  at  the  same  time 
make  the  subject  give  a  direct  help  to  the  industrial  devel- 
opment of  the  boy  or  girl.  President  Eliot  has  said,  "If 
a  man  practice  blacksmithing  studiously  or  agriculture 
thoughtfully,  he  is  getting  culture." 

The  foes  of  manual  training  have  been  those  of  its  own 


MANUAL  TRAINING  63 

educational  household.  It  has  had  to  fight  its  way  in  the 
face  of  bitter  opposition.  Educational  traditions  were  out- 
raged, and  therefore  all  those  who  had  been  reared  on  those 
traditions  marshaled  their  forces,  went  forth  valiantly  to 
do  battle,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  won  the  fight  they 
waged.  In  many  places  manual  training  has  been  forced 
into  the  schools  before  public  opinion  was  ripe  for  it,  and 
as  a  consequence  has  received  indifferent  support  and  bare 
toleration.  The  idea  that  education  could  be  given  only 
through  the  classics  long  held  sway:  even  mathematics  and 
science  were  awarded  tardy  recognition;  and  it  was  really 
too  much  to  expect  that  another  subject  would  be  allowed 
equal  place  with  either  classics  or  science.  Owing  largely 
to  this  academic  opinion,  that  manual  training  was  not  an 
educational  subject,  it  has  had  scant  recognition  in  the 
public  elementary  schools  and  still  less  in  the  ordinary  high 
school. 

Even  in  those  places  where  the  subject  has  been  intro- 
duced, it  has  never  been  an  integral  part  of  the  course.  It 
has  simply  been  regarded  as  an  additional  subject,  and  no 
connection  has  been  established  with  the  remainder  of  the 
curriculum.  The  grade  teacher  held  aloof,  and  the  manual 
training  teacher  placed  himself  on  a  pedestal  and  refused  to 
have  any  connection  either  with  other  school  subjects  or 
practical  industry.  Jesse  D.  Burks,  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  says :  — 

With  a  few  gratifying  exceptions  the  hand  work  of  the  schools 
is  a  fungus  growth  on  an  otherwise  ill-proportioned  and  mis- 
shapen curriculum,  which  needs  not  so  much  to  be  pruned  and 
trained  as  to  be  uprooted  and  replaced  by  a  more  vigorous  and 
more  productive  plant. 

The  methods  adopted  have  been  in  too  many  cases  for- 
eign to  the  shop,  and  have  been  such  that,  if  a  boy  used 
them  in  the  shop,  he  would  be  at  least  reprimanded  by  the 
foreman.  I  have  visited  exhibitions  where  boys  have  been 
at  work  giving  practical  demonstrations  of  manual  training, 


64  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

and  have  stood  and  listened  to  the  comments  of  artisans 
and  mechanics,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  these  com- 
ments have  been  the  reverse  of  favorable.  Shop  meth- 
ods can  be  adopted  after  a  certain  amount  of  preliminary 
work  has  been  done,  without  detracting  from  the  educa- 
tional and  cultural  value  of  the  subject. 

The  development  of  manual  training  has  been  rather 
peculiar.  First,  we  had  the  type  exercise,  where  the  boy 
had  to  make  a  joint  about  which  he  knew  nothing,  and 
cared  less.  I  have  seen  piles  of  these  joints,  so  little  thought 
of  by  the  boy  that  he  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  carry 
them  home,  and  they  were  consigned  to  the  furnace.  Next 
we  had  the  sloyd  influence,  which  at  least  infused  a  certain 
amount  of  interest  and  inculcated  the  making  of  useful 
objects,  though  the  mistake  was  made  of  supposing  that  the 
"system"  consisted  of  the  actual  models  made  in  Sweden, 
and  that  any  departure  therefrom  would  destroy  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  whole  scheme.  In  addition  to  this,  sloyd 
insisted  upon  accuracy  (a  variation  of  three  millimetres 
from  the  drawing  being  sufficient  to  cause  the  rejection  of  a 
model),  a  lesson  which  is  yet  required  in  much  of  the  work 
done.  Then  came  the  craze  for  "originality,"  "inventive- 
ness," "self-expression  ";  and  in  the  name  of  one  or  other  of 
these  we  have  had  perpetrated  objects  which  have  caused 
derision  amongst  those  who  know  good  craftsmanship  when 
they  see  it.  It  was  thought,  by  allowing  a  boy  to  make 
something  entirely  beyond  his  executive  capacity,  that  his 
"self -expression"  would  be  developed,  his  "inventiveness" 
stimulated,  and  his  "originality"  encouraged.  It  did  not 
at  all  matter  that  the  joints  gaped,  that  the  angles  were  far 
from  right  angles,  or  that  the  object  was  ill-fitted  to  serve 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed.  This  striving  after 
"originality"  reminds  one  very  forcibly  of  Robinson  Cru- 
soe's first  attempt  to  make  a  boat.  "I  went  to  work  upon 
that  boat  the  most  like  a  fool  that  ever  man  did  who  had 
any  of  his  senses  awake.  I  pleased  myself  with  the  design 


MANUAL   TRAINING  65 

without  determining  whether  I  was  ever  able  to  undertake 
it."  The  tendency  at  the  present  time  seems  to  be  in  the 
direction  of  large  pieces  of  furniture,  in  many  cases  entirely 
beyond  the  capacity  of  the  boy.  In  some  instances  the 
jointing  and  machining  of  large  pieces  is  done  at  the  mill, 
an  entirely  reprehensible  proceeding. 

In  the  higher  grades  of  the  elementary  school  the  work 
has  been  too  much  restricted  to  wood,  and  woodwork  in'the 
majority  of  cases  has  no  more  claim  to  monopolize  atten- 
tion than  plumbing  or  bricklaying,  gasfitting  or  tinsmith- 
ing.  Whether  regarded  as  a  cultural  subject,  or  as  an  in- 
dustrial subject,  or,  as  it  really  is,  a  combination  of  both,as 
much  cultural  or  industrial  training  can  be  obtained  through 
the  medium  of  a  number  of  other  materials  as  can  be  ac- 
quired from  woodwork.  Again  the  woodworking  trades 
provide  only  about  one  tenth  of  the  desirable  openings  in 
mechanical  pursuits. 

Probably  there  is  no  more  vital  cause  for  the  limited 
extension  of  manual  training  than  the  circumscribed  abil- 
ity of  the  teachers  employed.  No  reference  here  is  in- 
tended to  intellectual  ability,  which  in  nearly  all  cases  is  un- 
questionable, but  simply  to  industrial  skill  and  knowledge. 
Professor  Frank  M.  Leavitt,  in  his  book,  "Examples  of 
Industrial  Education,"  says:  — 

The  fact  is  that  educational  authorities  very  early  set  up  scho- 
lastic requirements  for  the  teachers  of  the  new  subjects.  Before  a 
man  could  teach  machine-shop  work  in  a  high  school  he  had  to 
pass  an  examination  in  English  and  American  literature,  algebra, 
demonstrative  geometry,  a  foreign  language,  etc.,  etc.  The  result 
was  that  in  time  the  work  fell  into  the  hands  of  men  who  were 
trained  in  the  traditional  school  subjects,  rather  than  in  the  prac- 
tical work  which  they  were  to  teach.  They  knew  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, imperfectly,  but  they  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  uni- 
versal language,  drawing.  They  knew  demonstrative  geometry, 
but  little  descriptive  or  applied  geometry.  They  knew  something 
of  algebra,  but  they  never  by  any  possible  chance  made  use  of  it 
in  the  shop,  and  were  of  course  entirely  unfamiliar  with  shop 
fprmulse.  To-day  the  manual  training  work  is  condemned  by  the 


66  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

"public,"  the  manufacturers,  and  the  labor  leaders  as  being  use- 
less as  industrial  training  and  the  teachers  as  being  incapable  of 
conducting  or  of  understanding  the  purpose  of  real  industrial 
schools.  While  much  of  the  criticism  is  unjust,  the  lesson  is 
evident. 

The  ideal  teacher  of  this  subject  is  a  man  (not  a  woman) 
who  possesses  academic  knowledge,  teaching  ability,  and 
mechanical  skill,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  which  of  the 
three  is  most  important.  The  educationist  stresses  the 
academic  and  intellectual  side,  while  the  mechanic  stresses 
the  industrial,*  and  largely  ignores  the  intellectual.  The 
real  solution,  as  usual,  probably  lies  between  the  two.  In 
reference  to  this  question  the  Report  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  says,  "Experience  has  shown  that  manual 
training  school  teachers  without  actual  trade  experience 
cannot  successfully  solve  this  great  problem."  It  is  only  fair 
to  point  out  here  that  all  the  progressives  in  the  ranks  of 
the  manual  training  teachers  fully  recognize  this  and  are 
taking  steps  to  acquire  this  shop  experience,  which  is  now 
considered  vitally  necessary. 

Convinced  of  the  importance  of  securing  the  right  kind 
of  teacher,  the  importance  of  providing  teachers  for  indus- 
trial schools,  and  the  advantage  of  industrial  experience 
to  manual  training  teachers,  the  Province  of  Ontario  has 
recently  drafted  new  regulations  to  accomplish  these  ends. 
These  provide  — 

1.  One  year's  training  at  a  normal  school  in  the  art  and 
science  of  teaching. 

2.  One  year's  training  in   the  Macdonald   Institute, 
Guelph,  in  the  practice  of  manual  training. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  two  years'  course,  an  interim 
certificate  is  granted  which  is  valid  for  two  years.  This  is 
made  permanent  on  the  conclusion  of  two  years'  satisfac- 
tory service  in  one  of  the  schools  of  the  Provincial  system 
and  the  submission  of  reliable  evidence  of  two  months' 
employment  in  an  approved  shop.  The  certificate  thus 


MANUAL  TRAINING  67 

granted  is  known  as  an  "ordinary"  certificate.  It  may  be 
raised  to  a  "specialist"  certificate  after  twelve  months' 
employment  in  an  actual  shop. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  advocates  of  temperance  have 
done  more  injury  to  their  own  cause,  by  their  intemper- 
ate advocacy,  than  has  been  done  by  their  opponents,  and 
probably  this  is  true  to  some  extent  with  regard  to  manual 
training.  We  have  made  exaggerated  claims  for  it,  and 
these  claims  have  failed  to  materialize,  though  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  majority  of  them  would  have  been  justified 
by  the  results  had  the  conditions  been  different.  We  have 
urged  that  it  would  keep  boys  longer  in  school.  Has  this 
been  the  case  generally?  What  boy  who  hates  books  and 
ordinary  school  subjects  will  tolerate  twenty-four  hours' 
work  a  week  at  them  for  the  sake  of  getting  an  hour  and  a 
half  at  manual  training?  Is  it  reasonable  to  expect  it?.v  It 
has  been  claimed  that  manual  training  will  help  every 
other  subject  in  the  school  curriculum.  So  it  will  if  given 
an  opportunity,  but  when  the  boy  leaves  tjje  "centre," 
that  is  the  last  he  hears  of  the  subject  for  another  week.  In 
a  number  of  places  what  is  known  as  the  "centre  system" 
is  adopted,  that  is,  a  room  is  equipped  in  some  convenient 
school  and  the  pupils  from  various  schools  in  the  vicinity 
attend  at  certain  specified  hours.  Every  school  should 
have  its  own  manual  training  shop,  which  should  be  suffi- 
ciently used  to  justify  the  expense  of  fitting.  This  would 
avoid  the  loss  of  time  in  going  from  school  to  shop. 

The  ordinary  grade  teacher  has  taken  little  interest  in 
the  work,  and  the  pupils  themselves  have  had  no  encour- 
agement to  regard  it  seriously.  I  know  of  one  instance 
where  manual  training  and  household  science  have  been 
established  for  four  years  and  the  principal  of  the  school 
has  never  been  inside  either  room.  As  a  consequence,  not- 
withstanding the  ability  of  the  teachers  in  this  particular 
case,  the  pupils  do  not  look  upon  the  work  as  being  of  much 
value,  or  as  playing  any  decided  part  in  their  school  stud- 


68  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ies.  Manual  training  requires  that  more  time  be  devoted  to 
it.  It  should  also  be  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with  other 
school  subjects.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  we  must  not  expect 
the  greatest  results  from  its  limited  adoption.  The  cost 
ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  expenditure,  but  as  an  invest- 
ment which  is  calculated  to  give  large  returns  both  educa- 
tionally and  industrially. 

One  of  the  most  serious  defects  in  our  manual  training 
as  at  present  conducted  is  that  the  boy  does  not  get  any 
adequate  idea  of  the  value  of  time  and  material.  These 
factors  in  the  majority  of  cases  never  enter  into  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  manual  training  room.  A  prominent  manufac- 
turer said  recently:  "My  harshest  criticism  of  our  present 
manual  training  work  in  our  public  schools  is  that  the  boys 
and  girls  do  not  have  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
time  and  the  cost  of  material.  I  will  take  a  boy  into  my 
shops  and  will  make  him  do  twice  as  much  as  you  can  make 
him  do  in  the  same  length  of  time." 

While  there  is  a  large  amount  of  truth  in  this,  there  is 
still  something  to  be  said  on  the  other  side.  The  conditions 
are  essentially  different.  In  the  shop  the  boy  does  not  feel 
sure  of  his  place.  Unless  the  quality  of  his  work  be  high 
enough  and  the  output  sufficient,  he  is  well  aware  that 
he  risks  dismissal,  and  that  another  is  ready  and  willing 
to  step  into  his  place.  In  the  shop  the  operations,  owing 
to  frequence  of  performance,  tend  to  become  automatic 
and  lead  to  speed.  In  the  school  as  soon  as  a  boy  can  do 
one  thing  well  he  is  given  a  new  problem.  But  after  every- 
thing is  said  that  can  be  said,  we  all  know  that  there  is 
more  or  less  waste  both  in  time  and  material,  and  our 
efforts  should  be  directed  towards  eliminating  it. 

In  Pueblo,  <&alifornia»  a  cost-check  was  handed  to  each 
boy  on  the  commencement  of  his  work.  The  various  grades 
had  different  values  assigned  to  their  work,  ranging  from 
seven  to  fifteen  cents  per  hour.  The  boys  were  found  eager 
to  discover  all  the  facts  relating  to  any  piece  of  work  in 


MANUAL  TRAINING 


hand,  and  when  the  cost  of  an  article  that  could  be  bought 
for  one  dollar  was  found  to  run  up  to  three  or  four  dollars, 
the  boy  did  not  ^  ^ 

need  to  be  told 
that  there  was 
something  wrong. 
Of  course,  objec- 
tion will  be  taken 
to  this  plan  on  the 
ground  that  too 
much  is  made  of 
dollars  and  cents, 
and  that  it  is  cal- 
culated to  ruin  the 
high  ideals  that 
should  be  the  sole 
basis  of  the  work. 
But  the  sooner 
some  of  the  so- 
called  ideals  of 
manual  training 
are  allowed  to  go 
by  the  board  and 
the  work  is  brought 
into  actual  rela- 
tion to  practical 
life,  the  better  it 
will  be  for  all  con- 
cerned. The  stand- 
ard of  cost  is  the 
one  that  will  ap- 
peal to  the  boy 
most  of  all.  He 
hears  about  it 
every  day  and  knows  thoroughly  well  what  it  means. 
There  is  no  danger  of  the  work  suffering  from  the  adop- 


Cost  Check 

job      Gun  Cabinet 

Material 
Wood,  Kind     Oak 

No.  feet  in  job     38 
No.  feet  spoiled        I 

Price  per  tool       I  0  cost  of  wood 

Brass  for  hinges 

Lock 

Felt  for  lining .^ 

Stain  Varnish — glass 

Time 

Date  begun    9-9-07. 
Date  finished  20-12-07. 
Extra  hours  Kill  Hill  1 
Total  hours        77 
Wage  per  hour  1 5 

Cost  of  time 

F  Total 

Check      H.  M.  H. 

Name    ^ay  XCerz, 
School 


Cost 


3.90 

40 

50 

2.10 

1.15 


11.55 
19.60 


Central 


Grade  9. 


70  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

tion  of  some  such  plan.  By  this  means  there  will  be  re- 
moved a  glaring  economic  defect  that  is  causing  much 
adverse  criticism  from  practical  men.  A  copy  of  the  check 
referred  to  is  found  on  the  preceding  page. 

There  is  need  also  hi  the  manual  training  room  of  more 
cooperative  or  community  work.  As  an  illustration  of 
what  is  meant,  take  the  method  as  worked  out  in  a  Toronto 
"centre."  Fifteen  classes,  from  various  public  schools  in 
the  neighborhood,  attend  this  particular  centre  each  week. 
Ten  of  these  classes  receive  a  weekly  lesson  of  one  and 
a  half  hours  and  five  one  of  two  hours.  Ten  classes  were 
chosen,  and  each  class  was  to  make  a  "  Morris  "  chair.  The 
idea  was  cooperation.  The  teacher  felt  that  the  training  the 
boys  were  receiving  along  the  lines  of  getting  along  with 
their  fellows  and  working  harmoniously  with  them,  upon 
which  the  success  of  the  modern  workman  so  largely  de- 
pends, was  not  sufficiently  stressed.  He  also  felt  that  the 
individual  work  was  tending  largely  to  encourage  selfish- 
ness. Each  class  chose  its  own  foreman,  and  the  chair, 
when  made,  was  to  be  presented  to  the  principal  of  the 
school  from  which  the  class  came.  Plans  were  discussed, 
the  drawings  made,  and  the  wood  chosen  and  purchased 
by  the  boys.  The  various  parts  were  allotted  to  different 
boys.  When  these  were  completed,  they  were  assembled 
and  built  into  the  finished  chair. 

Another  example  of  the  same  method  follows.  An  even- 
ing school  in  the  Province  of  Ontario  was  being  equipped, 
and  fifty  drawing-tables  were  required  for  the  draughting- 
room.  The  type  of  table  was  determined,  the  drawings  and 
blue-prints  made,  and  the  whole  of  the  work  done  by  shop 
methods  in  the  evening  woodworking  class.  While  this  was 
being  done,  temporary  tables  and  trestles  were  used  in  the 
draughting-room.  Methods  of  this  character  are  capable  of 
almost  unlimited  development,  and  would  do  much  to  give 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  industries  and  the  conditions 
under  which  they  are  carried  on. 


MANUAL  TRAINING  71 

Modified  shop  methods  must  be  introduced  into  the 
schools.  Visits  to  factories  and  various  industries  might  be 
made.  As  far  as  possible  the  industries  should  be  repro- 
duced in  the  classroom  and  every  opportunity  taken  ad- 
vantage of  to  relate  the  work  closely  to  the  industries  of  the 
locality. 

As  the  failure  of  manual  training  from  the  industrial 
point  of  view  has  largely  given  rise  to  the  present  agitation 
for  industrial  education,  so  that  agitation  has  reacted  on 
the  practice  of  manual  training.  Teachers  are  gradually 
changing  their  attitude  and  seeking  to  obtain  that  actual 
shop  experience  which  is  proving  to  be  so  necessary.  In- 
dustrial methods  are  being  adopted,  correct  technique 
being  insisted  upon,  and  a  silent  revolution  is  in  course 
of  operation.  The  manual  training  of  to-day  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  even  five  years  ago,  and  in  another 
five  years  it  will  probably  be  scarcely  recognizable  for  the 
same  subject. 

The  subject  corresponding  to  manual  training  that  has 
been  brought  into  the  curriculum  for  girls  is  household  sci- 
ence. Housekeeping  to-day  is  recognized  as  an  industry  in 
which  large  numbers  of  women  are  engaged.  For  this  rea- 
son the  whole,  and  not  a  fractional  part  of  it,  should  be 
taught  in  our  schools.  Owing  to  various  limitations,  ele- 
mentary school  household  science  consists  almost  entirely 
of  cookery,  but  we  do  not  live  in  the  kitchen.  The  bedroom, 
the  bathroom,  the  dining-room,  and  the  living-room  should 
also  receive  due  attention;  and  therefore  the  kitchen  should 
not  be  regarded  as  the  unit  of  equipment. 

It  still  remains  for  some  progressive  Board  of  Education 
to  show  what  can  be  done  in  the  teaching  of  girls  by  making 
provision  for  the  larger  subject  of  "housewifery,"  as  it  is 
called  in  the  English  schools,  by  furnishing  a  model  house 
or  flat,  in  which  every  department  of  household  work  can 
be  demonstrated  and  taught. 

Let  us  take  a  typical  case  of  this  plan  for  teaching 


72  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

housewifery.  The  Manchester  (England)  Education  Com- 
mittee owned  two  cottages  near  one  of  the  schools.  These 
two  houses  have  been  simply  furnished  and  equipped  in 
a  style  suitable  for  a  working-man's  home.  The  teacher 
lives  in  one  of  the  houses,  and  classes  consisting  of  twelve 
girls  are  taught  at  one  time. 

All  the  practical  details  of  household  management  are 
dealt  with,  such  as  the  buying  and  cooking  of  food,  bread- 
making,  washing,  mangling  and  ironing,  cleaning,  scrub- 
bing, dusting.  By  means  of  this  provision,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  girls  will  have  the  benefit  of  practical 
training,  and  in  time  there  are  to  be  given  simple  lessons  hi 
hygiene  and  the  tending  and  feeding  of  young  children.  To 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  English  Education  Depart- 
ment, it  is  necessary  that  each  girl  should  have  previously 
gone  through  a  course  of  lessons  in  cookery  and  laundry 
work. 

If  the  last  six  months  of  a  girl's  life  at  school  could  be 
spent  at  such  a  centre,  in  training  for  the  duties  of  keep- 
ing the  home,  there  can  be  no  question  but  that  a  vast 
improvement  would  be  effected  in  the  comfort  and  econ- 
omy of  home  life,  and  such  provision  might  reasonably 
be  expected  to  develop  a  decided  tendency  to  prolong  the 
school  life  of  the  girl.  The  need  of  training  for  house- 
keeping and  home-making  is  evident  on  all  hands.  If  men 
started  out  with  as  little  knowledge  of  their  business  affairs 
as  does  the  average  girl  of  housekeeping,  business  failures 
would  be  chronicled  every  day  by  the  score  instead  of  the 
occasional  few  as  now.  In  the  two  excellent  schools  for 
the  training  of  household  science  teachers  in  the  Province 
of  Ontario — Macdonald  Institute,  Guelph,  and  the  Lillian 
Massey  School  at  the  University  of  Toronto  —  a  complete 
apartment  or  flat  is  included  as  part  of  the  equipment, 
and  the  prospective  teacher  gets  the  kind  of  training  above 
referred  to. 

In  the  actual  teaching  of  cookery  itself,  more  practical 


MANUAL  TRAINING  73 

methods  might  be  adopted.  A  laundress  was  asked  by  her 
mistress,  "Does  your  daughter  learn  much  in  cooking- 
school?  "  "Sure,  then,  that  public  school  cooking  is  nothing 
but  child's  play  at  all,  miss;  me  girl  she  makes  a  little  loaf 
o'  bread  no  bigger  than  me  fist,  an'  a  teaspoonful  o'  plum 
puddin',  an'  she  bakes  a  quar-r-ter  o'  a  potato.  It  makes 
me  laugh,  that  does."  Of  course,  this  criticism  is  very  much 
overdrawn,  but  it  contains  an  element  of  truth  which  we 
shall  be  wise  not  to  ignore. 

The  most  frequent  criticism  I  hear  is  this :  "  Your  house- 
hold science  is  all  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  go 
far  enough.  My  girl  can  cook  a  bit  of  this  or  that,  but  when 
my  wife  is  sick  and  my  daughter  has  to  attend  to  the  house 
and  get  a  complete  meal,  she  gets  all  tangled  up."  Assum- 
ing that  the  main  business  of  a  cooking-school  is  to  teach 
how  to  cook,  which  assumption,  by  the  way,  all  are  not 
willing  to  admit,  it  seems  that  much  more  attention  to  the 
preparation  of  the  complete  meal  is  required,  or  the  time, 
money,  and  energy  spent  on  the  subject  will  be  largely 
wasted,  as  far  as  practical  housekeeping  results  are  con- 
cerned. Of  course,  the  answer  to  all  that  has  been  said  will 
be  that  the  time  allowed  is  not  nearly  sufficient  to  permit 
of  this  being  done,  and  the  answer  is  to  a  very  great  extent 
justifiable.  In  some  cases  the  teacher  has  fifteen  different 
classes  a  week  and  the  same  lesson  is  repeated  the  same 
number  of  times,  and  as  a  rule  vitality  is  lost  each  time 
it  is  given  after  the  third  or  fourth. 

We  must  admit  that  both  manual  training  and  house- 
hold science  are  handicapped  and  the  time  limited,  but 
then  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  whether  the  most  efficient  use 
is  being  made  of  the  time  that  is  grudgingly  given  to  us.  To 
this  question,  after  a  careful  review  of  the  methods  now  in 
vogue,  one  cannot  always  answer  in  the  affirmative. 

The  measures  that  seem  to  be  needed  here  are:  — 

1.  The  frank  admission  by  all  manual  training  advocates 
that  the  subject  has  a  decided  and  distinct  industrial  value, 


74  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

which  is  at  least  as  great  as  the  cultural  value,  in  the  train- 
ing of  the  boy  or  the  girl. 

2.  A  reawakening  of  public  sentiment  and  a  revival  of 
popular  interest  in  the  subject  on  the  above  grounds. 

3.  The  employment  of  teachers  who,  in  addition  to  the 
widest  professional  and  academic  training  possible,  have 
above  all  an  accurate  working  knowledge  of  shop  condi- 
tions, requirements,  and  metiiods. 

4.  The  employment  of  these  shop  methods  in  the  manual 
training  room  whenever  that  is  possible  without  sacrificing 
the  educational  interests  of  the  pupils. 

5.  The  adoption  of  various  measures  calculated  to  bring 
about  a  closer  correlation  between  the  industrial  work  of 
the  home  and  that  of  the  school. 

6.  The  devotion  of  much  more  time  and  attention  to 
manual  training,  household  science,  and  drawing  of  an 
intensely  practical  kind,  with  a  direct  local  and  industrial 
application. 


SOME  NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS,  AND  PRINCIPLES 
UNDERLYING  THEIR  ORGANIZATION  AND  MAN- 
AGEMENT 

ANY  reform  of,  or  additions  to,  our  educational  systems 
must  take  that  which  already  exists,  as  the  basis  on  which 
to  build.  It  would  be  the  height  of  economic  folly  and 
a  foredoomed  failure  to  attempt  to  establish  new  types 
of  schools  and  ignore  the  experience  and  achievements  of 
the  past. 

In  previous  chapters  the  necessity  for  a  revitalization  of 
the  public  school  curriculum  and  a  change  of  viewpoint  — 
the  industrial  rather  than  the  academic — has  been  pointed 
out.  Assuming  that  these  changes,  which  really  mean  a 
modernizing  of  the  system,  will  be  gradually  carried  out, 
it  is  in  order  to  inquire  what  new  types  of  schools,  if  any, 
are  required,  in  addition  to  those  we  already  have,  what 
principles  should  underlie  their  establishment,  and  what 
results  we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  them. 

The  main  purpose  of  all  education  should  be  to  make  a 
good  citizen.  This  statement,  of  course,  is  a  mere  common- 
place, and  has  been  repeated  so  often  that  it  has  almost  lost 
its  meaning.  One  essential  feature  of  good  citizenship  has 
been  entirely  lost  sight  of  and  willfully  ignored  by  educa- 
tional advocates.  Before  a  man  can  become  a  good  citizen 
he  must  have  and  use  the  ability  to  earn  a  living.  Henry 
George  has  said,  "Poverty  is  the  Slough  of  Despond  which 
Bunyan  saw  in  his  dream  and  into  which  good  books  may 
be  tossed  forever  without  result.  To  make  people  indus- 
trious, prudent,  skillful,  and  intelligent,  they  must  be  re- 
lieved from  want."  Education,  we  are  told,  is  to  teach  us 
how  to  live,  not  how  to  make  a  living;  but  it  is  a  sheer 


76  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

impossibility  for  a  man  to  learn  how  to  live  unless  he  can 
make  a  living  for  himself  and  those  dependent  on  him.  As 
long  as  we  dwell  on  the  ideal,  ignore  the  actual,  and  willfully 
blind  our  eyes  to  the  necessity  of  training  for  self-support, 
which  in  our  modern  civilization  is  facing  the  vast  major- 
ity of  our  people,  we  are  shirking  the  issue  and  not  meet- 
ing the  situation.  This  self-support  is  the  first  obligation 
of  a  citizen,  and  the  absolutely  necessary  basis  of  a  wider 
and  more  unselfish  range  of  service. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  at  least  eighty  per 
cent  of  the  boys  and  girls  never  proceed  further  in  the  edu- 
cational organization  than  the  elementary  school,  and  that 
between  their  leaving  school  and  the  time  when  they  reach 
sixteen  years  of  age,  when  they  are  generally  admitted  into 
productive  industry,  much  educational  loss  is  incurred. 

It  is  evident  that  the  existing  high  schools  which  have 
been  in  operation  for  many  years,  do  not  meet  the  needs  or 
requirements  of  this  eighty  per  cent,  and  it  becomes  our 
duty  to  provide  a  type  of  education  which  will  give  just  that 
instruction  which  is  demanded  by  the  economic  conditions 
and  probable  future  occupations  of  the  large  majority  of 
our  pupils. 

It  is  the  prevailing  fashion  in  most  countries  having  a 
democratic  form  of  government  to  decry  any  process  of 
•  grading  or  sorting  children,  as  it  is  believed  that  this  would 
tend  towards  making  and  accentuating  class  distinctions. 
It  is  high  time  we  ceased  worshiping  the  fetish  of  equality. 
Our  educational  systems,  democratic  though  they  are  said 
to  be,  are  making  these  distinctions  where  they  do  not 
already  exist  and  emphasizing  them  where  they  do.  We 
have  at  least  two  castes,  those  who  are  of  the  elect  and 
those  who  are  not,  i.e.,  those  who  can  absorb  the  printed 
page  and  pass  the  prescribed  examinations,  and  those  who, 
for  both  mental  and  financial  reasons,  are  not  able  to  do  so. 
Germany  has  classified  her  children  and  so  has  Switzerland. 
The  former  is  an  aristocracy  and  the  latter  a  true  demo- 


SOME   NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  77 

cracy.  Until  we  in  America  can  learn  their  lessons,  the 
waste  of  giving  the  wrong  kind  of  education  —  an  educa- 
tion not  fitted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  child  receiving 
it  —  will  continue. 

In  view  of  what  has  gone  before,  a  new  type  of  school  is 
urgently  needed.  This  would  supplement  and  not  replace 
any  existing  organization.  If,  as  suggested  by  the  State 
Commissioner  of  Education  for  New  York,  the  present 
curriculum  can  be  accomplished  in  one  year  less  than  at 
present,  the  school  proposed  could  be  entered  at  thirteen 
years  of  age,  and  it  would  thus  provide  a  three-year  course, 
which  would  carry  the  boy  and  girl  up  to  the  time  they  are 
generally  admitted  to  the  industrial  ranks. 

The  new  school  might  be  called  a  "general  industrial 
school"  for  the  first  two  years  and  a  "special  industrial 
school "  for  the  third  year.  The  work  undertaken  would  be 
definitely  related  to  the  industries  of  the  district,  and  for 
this  reason  it  is  difficult  for  any  central  body  to  outline  with 
absolute  definiteness  the  curriculum  of  such  a  school.  The 
problem  of  industrial  education  is  almost  a  separate  one  for 
every  trade  and  for  every  locality.  It  is  only  the  localizing 
of  this  work  that  will  make  it  effective.  In  addition  to  the 
practical  shop  work  taken  in  such  a  school,  the  subjects 
might  be  English,  mathematics,  science,  drawing,  indus- 
trial geography,  and  history.  Every  subject  should  be 
treated  strictly  from  its  industrial  side,  and  for  this  reason 
the  curriculum  ought  not  to  be  drawn  up  entirely  by  the 
educational  authorities.  In  this  connection  the  assistance 
of  industrial  experts  could  very  well  be  called  in. 

An  excellent  example  of  a  school  closely  approximating 
this  type  is  the  Rochester  "Shop  School."  Its  very  name 
outrages  the  traditional  idea  of  a  school.  The  school  "has 
for  its  aim  the  training  of  boys  along  general  industrial 
lines  and  in  the  fundamental  principles  pertaining  to  cer- 
tain trades,  but  does  not  aim  to  teach  a  trade.  It  does 
aim  to  develop  rapidity  and  efficiency  in  execution,  so  that 


78  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

those  who  go  out  with  a  diploma  will  be  better  fitted  to 
enter  their  chosen  trade  than  they  would  be  under  prevail- 
ing conditions." 

There  are  six  courses  now  offered, — cabinet-making, 
carpentry,  electricity,  plumbing,  architectural  drawing,  and 
machine  design.  Each  course  lasts  for  two  years,  and  the 
school  is  open  forty  weeks  in  the  year.  Each  course  is 
divided  as  follows  in  hours  per  week:  — 

Shop  work 15    hours 

Shop  mathematics 5    hours 

Drawing 5    hours 

English       2J  hours 

Industrial  history 11  hours 

Spelling 1     hour 

Five  hours'  home  work  in  mathematics  and  spelling  are 
exacted  each  week,  and  the  boys  in  the  electrical  course  are 
obliged  to  spend  three  hours  a  week,  in  addition  to  the 
above  time-table,  on  the  theory  of  the  subject.  The  daily 
sessions  are  from  8.30  to  3  P.M.  The  school  is  closed  thus 
early  in  the  afternoon  in  order  that  the  boys  may  find 
outside  work  if  necessary. 

Some  schools  that  approach  this  type  have  largely  fol- 
lowed the  manual  training  plan  of  shop  work,  both  in  the 
method  of  treatment  and  in  the  subjects  taught.  Both 
these  must  be  changed  if  these  schools  are  to  have  a  definite 
and  precise  industrial  connection.  The  industrial  method 
of  treatment  is  required;  subdivision  of  labor,  length  of 
time  on  the  job,  cost  of  material,  wages  awarded,  disposal 
of  the  product,  and  a  number  of  other  trade  practices  must 
be  brought  into  play.  There  is  no  reason  why  woodwork 
and  metal-work  should  be  the  only  forms  of  workshop 
practice  offered,  or  why  they  should  be  offered  at  all  unless 
specially  demanded  by  the  industries  of  the  district. 

Consideration  might  well  be  given  to  the  length  of  the 
school  day.  There  is  no  valid  reason  why  boys  of  fourteen 
years  of  age  should  not  be  required  to  work  eight  hours  a 


SOME   NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  79 

day,  as  in  the  shop.  With  the  variety  of  work  offered,  this 
would  entail  no  undue  physical  or  mental  strain.  The  usual 
two  or  three  months'  holiday  is  in  need  of  considerable 
curtailment  in  schools  of  this  character.  The  authorities  of 
the  Williamson  Free  School  of  Mechanical  Trades  say, 
"Although  our  school  day  is  eight  hours  long,  there  is  gen- 
erally excellent  attention  in  both  mechanical  and  academic 
departments,  the  happy  combination  of  the  two,  leaving 
our  young  men  fresh  and  bright  at  its  close." 

A  great  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  schools  of  this  char- 
acter will  be  the  tendency  of  boys  to  leave  before  they  have 
completed  the  course  on  which  they  have  entered.  It 
would  be  a  decided  advantage  to  have  steps  taken,  by  legal 
measures  if  necessary,  to  discourage  any  employer  taking 
into  his  shop  a  boy  who  thus  leaves  except  under  the  most 
pressing  circumstances,  and  labor  unions  might  well  refuse 
to  admit  to  membership  any  boy  who  leaves,  without  ade- 
quate and  justifiable  cause,  a  school  approved  by  them. 

In  speaking  of  such  a  school,  the  Report  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  meeting  in  Toronto,  November,  1909, 
says:  — 

We  favor  the  establishment  of  schools  in  connection  with  the 
public  school  system  at  which  pupils  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  sixteen  may  be  taught  the  principles  of  the  trades,  not  neces- 
sarily in  separate  buildings,  but  in  separate  schools  adapted  to 
this  particular  education,  and  by  competent  and  trained  teachers. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  such  a  school  should  be  English, 
mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  elementary  mechanics,  and 
drawing,  with  shop  instruction  for  particular  trades;  and  for  each 
trade  represented,  the  drawing,  mathematics,  physical  and  bio- 
logical science  applicable  to  the  trade,  the  history  of  that  trade, 
and  a  sound  system  of  economics,  including  and  emphasizing  the 
philosophy  of  collective  bargaining.  This  will  serve  to  prepare 
the  pupils  for  more  advanced  subjects  and  in  addition  to  disclose 
their  capacity  for  a  specific  vocation. 

In  order  to  keep  such  schools  in  close  touch  with  the  trades, 
there  should  be  local  advisory  boards,  including  representatives  of 
the  industries,  employers,  and  organized  labor. 


80  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

We  recommend  that  any  technical  education  of  the  workers  in 
trade  and  industry,  being  of  public  necessity,  should  be  not  a  pri- 
vate but  a  public  function,  conducted  by  the  public  and  at  the 
public  expense. 

After  two  years  of  such  a  general  course  organized  with 
special  reference  to  local  requirements  and  with  the  cooper- 
ation of  both  educationists  and  industrialists,  the  boy,  his 
parents,  and  his  instructors  would  have  some  definite  and 
reliable  information  and  experience  on  which  to  base  a 
decision  regarding  the  occupation  for  which  the  boy  is  to 
be  definitely  trained.  The  last  twelve  months  of  the  boy's 
course  should  be  spent  in  the  trade  he  has  chosen,  and  this 
would  render  him  of  immediate  value  to  an  employer  and 
would  enable  him  to  earn  a  living  wage  from  the  time  of  his 
entry  into  the  shop. 

This  is  largely  the  plan  followed  in  the  Newton  Inde- 
pendent Industrial  School.  On  completion  of  the  three 
years'  course  the  boy  is  given  a  certificate  indicating  the 
trade  in  which  he  has  specialized.  The  final  certificate  of 
the  school  is  not  given  until  after  a  year's  work  in  an  ap- 
proved shop.  During  this  year  the  student  workman  sends 
a  weekly  written  report  to  the  school  describing  the  pro- 
gress of  his  shop  work,  wages  received,  and  any  other  par- 
ticulars he  thinks  should  be  noted.  If  the  year's  work  is 
satisfactory  to  the  employer,  the  full  diploma  of  the  school 
is  granted.  This  is  practically  an  entirely  new  feature  in 
such  schools,  and  promises  to  be  one  extremely  valuable  to 
the  three  parties  concerned. 

The  first  three  months  in  such  a  school  might  well  be 
considered  a  probationary  period,  for  not  all  boys  are 
adapted  for  industrial  pursuits,  and  it  is  essential  for  their 
future  welfare  that  this  be  discovered  and  acted  upon  early 
in  their  career. 

There  is  a  grave  danger  that  schools  of  this  character  will 
be  regarded  by  schoolmen  as  a  refuge  for  all  boys  who  have 
failed  to  achieve  distinction  in  the  ordinary  academic  work. 


SOME  NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  81 

This  tendency  will  have  to  be  strenuously  resisted.  These 
schools  are  not  the  last  resort  of  the  mentally  weak,  nor  are 
they  to  be  used  to  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats.  They 
must  not  be  regarded  as  cities  of  refuge.  The  lame,  the 
halt,  the  blind,  and  the  mental  and  moral  defective  must 
be  eliminated  as  carefully  here,  as  in  the  ordinary  school, 
and  provided  for  specially  and  separately.  Brains  are  just 
as  necessary  for  the  industrial  worker  as  for  the  minister, 
lawyer,  or  doctor. 

After  such  schools  are  established,  the  question  of  secur- 
ing the  attendance  of  those  for  whom  they  are  designed 
will  require  consideration.  We  may  as  well  admit  the  fact 
that  until  compulsion  is  resorted  to,  and  rigorously  en- 
forced, attendance  at  these  schools  will  be  small  and  spas- 
modic, and  that  much  accommodation  will  remain  unused 
and  equipment  lie  idle.  There  is  in  existence  a  school  on 
which  considerably  more  than  $100,000  has  been  spent  in 
building  and  equipment.  This  school  is  attended  by  barely 
forty  boys  in  the  daytime,  and  were  it  not  for  the  large  and 
enthusiastic  evening  classes  such  an  expenditure  could  not 
be  justified. 

In  another  case  a  day  industrial  school  was  established 
offering  an  excellent  course  for  both  boys  and  girls.  Letters 
were  sent  to  the  parents  of  every  boy  and  girl  leaving  the 
elementary  schools,  the  leaving  classes  were  addressed  and 
the  benefits  of  the  proposed  school  pointed  out  to  them,  an 
energetic  advertising  campaign  was  conducted  lasting  for 
two  months,  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  local  press 
secured,  and  when  the  school  was  opened  three  boys  and 
two  girls  presented  themselves.  The  situation  was  taken 
in  hand  by  two  energetic  and  enthusiastic  members  of  the 
advisory  committee,  and  they,  by  personal  visits  to  the 
homes  of  the  most  likely  cases,  were  able  to  get  together 
two  classes  of  twenty  each,  which  are  now  doing  most  ex- 
cellent work  along  industrial  lines. 

Compulsion  is  distasteful,  but  it  will  eventually  come; 


82  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

meanwhile  the  community  must  be  content  to  accept  gross 
and  wanton  waste  both  of  its  human  and  material  re- 
sources. 

In  the  absence  of  compulsion  this  waste  might  be  sorne- 
what  lessened  by  a  system  of  scholarships.  A  well-organ- 
ized scheme  of  scholarships  and  maintenance  allowances 
is  becoming  a  prominent  feature  of  the  English  and 
Scotch  systems  of  industrial  education,  and  though  it  is 
said  the  necessity  for  such  on  this  continent  is  not  so 
urgent,  yet  it  cannot  be  altogether  ignored  if  all  are  to 
have  equal  opportunity.  Old  age  pension  schemes  are  to- 
day within  the  range  of  practical  politics,  and  some  of  the 
older  countries  have  already  adopted  such  schemes.  From 
an  economic  point  of  view  it  would  pay  any  nation  so  to 
arrange  matters  that  these  would  not  be  generally  neces- 
sary. Old  age  pensions  are  required  largely  because  the 
conditions  of  industry  and  the  incapacity  of  the  worker 
have  been  such  as  to  prevent  him  making  the  needed  pro- 
vision for  the  time  when  he  is  no  longer  wanted  in  the  in- 
dustries. Of  course,  extravagance,  thriftlessness,  drunken- 
ness, and  other  factors  also  come  into  play;  but  when  all 
due  allowance  is  made,  the  fact  remains  that  the  economic 
conditions  of  industry  and  the  high  cost  of  living  are 
largely  to  blame.  The  newer  nations  should,  while  there 
is  yet  time,  start  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  and  if 
a  system  of  allowances  is  necessary,  in  order  that  every 
child  may  be  industrially  trained  and  thus  removed  from 
the  ranks  of  casual  laborers,  the  expenditure  should  not  be 
shirked. 

The  scheme  of  the  London  (England)  County  Council 
is  elaborate  and  comprehensive.  The  schools  are  of  two 
classes;  the  first,  offering  opportunities  under  which  a  boy 
or  girl  may  proceed  from  the  elementary  school  to  the  uni- 
versity, and  the  second,  providing  trade  training  for  both 
boys  and  girls.  Children  whose  parents  earn  less  than  $800 
a  year  are  also  eligible  for  maintenance  allowances.  The 


SOME   NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  83 

amounts  vary,  but  for  boys  are  generally  $30  for  the  first 
year,  $50  for  the  second  year,  and  $75  for  the  third  year. 
The  allowances  for  girls  are  usually  $40  for  the  first  year, 
and  $60  for  the  second  year.  A  probationary  period  of 
three  months  has  to  be  passed  without  any  maintenance 
allowance  at  all,  in  order  to  prevent  the  funds  being  wasted 
on  unsuitable  candidates.  The  parents  are  also  required  to 
sign  a  declaration  that  they  intend  their  children  to  enter 
the  trade  on  completion  of  their  training.  The  cost  of  the 
whole  scheme  in  1908  was  $750,000,  and  it  is  estimated 
that  when  it  is  fully  at  work  it  will  represent  an  annual 
expenditure  of  $1,250  000.  By  these  schemes  of  scholar- 
ships bright  boys  and  girls  can  rise  from  the  lowest  point  to 
the  highest  in  the  educational  organization,  according  to 
ability,  capacity,  and  desire,  irrespective  of  financial  con- 
dition. The  accompanying  diagram  on  page  85  shows  the 
scheme  as  applied  in  Manchester. 

As  these  schools  grow  in  number  and  importance  another 
problem  that  will  have  to  be  solved  is  the  disposal  of  the 
product.  If  the  schools  are  to  be  effective,  shop  conditions 
must  prevail.  The  instruction  cannot  be  definitely  indus- 
trial unless  it  is  designed  to  meet  industrial  conditions,  and 
the  only  effective  test  of  the  material  product  turned  out  is 
the  place  it  can  take  in  fair  competition  in  the  open  market. 
The  more  the  work  of  the  boy  is  subjected  to  the  rigid  laws 
of  trade,  and  the  more  he  can  be  made  to  feel  exactly  the 
same  responsibility  that  rests  upon  an  actual  workman  in 
the  shops,  the  better  will  be  his  training  and  the  higher  his 
place  in  the  industrial  world  when  he  enters  it.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  boy  must  become  intimate  with  the  market- 
able product. 

There  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  a  school 
where  boys  and  girls  are  making  things  for  themselves, 
and  a  workshop  where  they  are  being  made  for  others  and 
for  the  general  market.  In  the  schools  as  at  present  or- 
ganized the  boy  is  able  to  please  himself,  to  choose  largely 


84  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

what  he  shall  make,  how  he  shall  make  it,  how  much  time 
he  shall  spend  doing  it,  and  what  quantity  of  material  he 
shall  use.  In  the  shop  the  work  must  be  done  on  time, 
the  orders  of  others  must  be  obeyed,  articles  made  and 
work  done  regardless  of  personal  whims  and  fancies,  and 
the  greatest  economy  exercised  in  the  use  of  material. 
There  is  no  picking  and  choosing,  hence  the  atmosphere  is 
entirely  different.  It  is  this  shop  atmosphere  that  the  boy 
must  be  impregnated  with. 

There  are  several  ways  in  which  the  product  may  be  dis- 
posed of.  If  the  plan  of  establishing  the  school  with  the 
minimum  of  equipment  is  followed,  it  will  be  several  years 
before  that  equipment  is  complete  and  the  product  in  this 
case  will  be  absorbed  by  the  school  itself.  After  comple- 
tion a  machine  or  tool  should  be  properly  valued,  by  com- 
parison with  standard  makes,  and  the  value  credited  to  the 
school.  Much  of  the  product  can  also  be  used  in  the  other 
schools  of  the  city.  If  the  work  is  up  to  market  standard  — 
and  none  should  be  accepted  unless  it  is — some  of  it  should 
certainly  be  sold  at  full  market  price.  The  product  of  the 
schools  for  many  years  will  be  very  small  in  amount,  and  if 
care  be  taken  not  to  disturb  the  ordinary  market  condi- 
tions, no  harm  will  result  from  the  test  thus  applied  to  the 
work  of  the  school. 

The  Williamson  School  of  Trades  and  many  other  such 
schools  are  opposed  to  the  sale  of  the  product,  but  in  the 
Williamson  School  the  building  trades  find  sufficient  work 
in  the  buildings  of  the  institution  itself,  and  in  this  way 
ordinary  trade  conditions  are  met  with  in  the  work  that  is 
done. 

Let  us  take  one  or  two  examples  of  the  way  in  which  this 
important  question  has  been  solved. 

In  the  Rochester  Shop  School  every  article  manufac- 
tured is  something  needed  in  the  public  schools,  and  which 
the  Board  of  Education  would  otherwise  purchase.  It 
must  also  have  an  educational  value.  All  the  product  is 


VICTORIA  UNIVERSITY  OF  MANCHESTER 

16  years  of  age  and  upward! 


MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL  OF  TECHNOLOGY 

(Faculty  of  Technology-University  of  Manchester) 
16  years  of  age  and  upwards 


MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL  OF  ART  AND  DESIGN 

14  years  of  age  and  upwards 


Residential  and  Day 
TRAINING 
COLLEGES 

18  years  of  age 

and  upward 


MUNICIPAL 

SECONDARY 

SCHOOL 

12  to  17  years  of  age 
Bursaries  for  Probationei 

Pupil-Teacherehi 
Bursaries  for  Scholars 
Municipal  Secondary  School 
and  Senior  Secondary  Schoo 

Scholarships 

Open  to  Scholars  already 

in  the  School 


OTHER 

SECONDARY 

SCHOOLS 

9  to  18  years  of  age 

for  Probationers  for 
pil-Teaohershi 
Senior  Secondary  S< 
Scholarships, 
Bursaries  for  Foundation 

Scholars.eto. 

Open  to  Scholars  already 

In  the  Schools 


PUPIL 

TEACHERS 

PREPARATORY 

CLASSES 

(for  Girls) 


HIGHER  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

12  to  16  years  of  age 
Lancaster ian  Exhibitions, 
irles  for  Scholars  in  Higher  Elementary  School 
OOpento  Scholars  already  in  the  Schools) 
8tf 


PRIMARY  SCHOOLS 


DIAGRAM  ILLUSTRATING  THE  SYSTEM  OF  SCHOLARSHIPS  AND  BURSARIES 


86  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

"run  through"  in  lots  of  six  with  time  and  stock  cards.  The 
electrical  department  has  charge  of  the  repair  of  the  bells, 
telephones,  gongs,  batteries,  and  lighting  systems  of  the 
public  schools  of  the  city.  It  also  installs  any  new  work 
required.  The  plumbing  department  also  has  charge  of  the 
repair  work  in  the  public  schools,  such  as  broken  closet- 
tanks,  broken  water-pipes,  connecting  gas-plates,  repairing 
drinking-fountains,  installing  bowls,  removing  stoppages 
in  waste-pipes,  etc. 

The  Newton  Independent  Industrial  School  is  also  one 
of  those  adopting  the  policy  of  doing  trade  work  and  turn- 
ing out  a  real  product.  This  school  was  commenced  with  a 
minimum  equipment,  and  its  work  up  to  the  present  has 
very  largely  consisted  of  making  supplementary  equip- 
ment for  the  different  shops  and  for  the  other  public 
schools.  The  printing  class  of  the  school  has  been  credited 
with  more  than  three  hundred  dollars  by  the  school  de- 
partment. A  monthly  paper,  "Industry,"  is  printed  and 
published  by  the  boys.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
that  paper,  written  by  one  of  the  pupils :  — 

The  greater  part  of  the  equipment  in  the  sheet-metal  depart- 
ment has  been  made  by  the  pupils,  who  have  thus  gained  valuable 
experience  and  also  saved  the  school  considerable  expense.  The 
equipment  was  made  in  two  departments  of  the  school,  the 
woodworking  department  and  the  machine  department.  In  the 
woodworking  department  there  were  made  five  benches,  one 
stock  table,  twelve  riveting-hammer  handles,  twelve  mallets, 
twelve  tool  racks,  six  boxes  for  miscellaneous  work,  patterns  for 
one  anvil,  and  six  different  stakes.  The  following  were  made  in 
the  machine  department:  twelve  riveting-hammers,  twelve  tin- 
smith hammers,  and  twenty-four  punches.  The  gas-piping  was 
also  done  by  the  machinists.  The  equipment  purchased  by  the 
school  consists  of  six  gas  forges,  twelve  soldering-irons,  and  two 
machines  for  sheet-metal  forging. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  all  interests  concerned,  edu- 
cation and  industry,  capital  and  labor,  must  cooperate  if 
effective  schools  are  to  be  established;  and  the  better  under- 


SOME  NEW   TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  87 

standing  that  would  be  thus  brought  about  between  some- 
times opposite  parties  would  result  in  a  great  economic  sav- 
ing both  to  capital  and  labor,  in  reducing  to  some  extent  the 
waste  of  millions  in  senseless  strikes  and  pitiless  lockouts. 

As  showing  the  different  organizations  cooperating  in  the 
establishment  of  industrial  schools  in  Germany,  take  the 
following.  At  an  industrial  school  exhibition  held  in  Dres- 
den, 251  schools  participated.  Of  these  48  were  supported 
by  the  State,  47  by  different  trades  and  guilds,  88  by  other 
industrial  organizations,  45  by  towns,  and  23  by  private 
individuals. 

The  cooperative  plan,  as  carried  on  with  various  modi- 
fications in  Cincinnati,  Fitchburg,  Beverly,  and  other 
places,  has  much  to  recommend  it.  The  first  striking 
advantage  seems  to  be  the  economy  of  its  management. 
Twice  the  number  of  students  can  be  taught  at  about 
two  thirds  the  cost,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  schools  do 
not  require  any  special  shop  equipment.  There  is  further 
economy,  in  that  the  student  is  earning  while  he  is  learn- 
ing, and  in  this  way  a  much  greater  constituency  is  likely 
to  be  reached.  The  pupils  are  divided  into  two  groups, 
one  being  in  the  factory  and  the  other  in  the  school  — 
spending  alternate  weeks  in  each. 

The  Cincinnati  school  is  of  technical  rather  than  indus- 
trial rank,  and  provides  for  about  230  students,  who  are  at 
school  or  in  the  shop  nine  hours  a  day,  six  days  a  week  for 
48  weeks  in  the  year.  The  plan,  modified  to  suit  local  needs 
and  circumstances,  has  great  possibilities,  if,  and  only  if, 
the  objections  of  organized  labor  can  be  overcome.  These 
objections  at  present  are:  — 

1.  The  boys  are  in  the  course  on  sufferance,  as  the  veto 
power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  manufacturer. 

2.  That  the  scheme  is  one  in  which  the  people  have  no 
hand  or  control. 

3.  That  principles  opposed  to  trades-unionism  may  be 
taught. 


88  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

4.  That  any  boy  who  shows  a  desire  to  advocate  union- 
ism may  be  instantly  dismissed. 

5.  That  the  teacher  is  under  the  control  of  the  manufact- 
urer. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor,  in  reporting  on 
this  plan,  says:  — 

Any  scheme  of  education  which  depends  for  its  carrying  out  on 
a  private  group,  subject  to  no  public  control,  leaves  unsolved  the 
fundamental  democratic  problem  of  giving  the  boys  of  the  coun- 
try an  equal  opportunity  and  the  citizens  the  power  to  criticize 
and  reform  their  educational  machinery. 

Labor  is  said  to  be  opposed  to  trade  schools,  and  quite 
rightly  so,  as  the  term  has  been  interpreted;  but  in  the 
same  way  that  apprenticeship  has  become  modernized  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  so  a  trade  school, 
carried  on  under  public  management  and  control,  bears 
little  relationship  to  that  which  has  hitherto  been  under- 
stood by  the  term.  The  ordinary  conception  of  a  trade 
school  has  been  a  school  in  which  there  has  been  given  a 
narrow  type  of  instruction,  concerned  only  with  manual 
dexterity  and  skill,  no  attention  being  paid  to  the  under- 
lying scientific  principles  on  which  the  practice  is  based. 
These  objections  no  longer  hold,  as  a  school  of  the  type 
suggested  will  do  all  or  attempt  to  do  all  that  labor  requires 
in  turning  out  a  broad,  all-round  man. 

These  schools  will  be  expensive;  the  cost  of  material  and 
equipment,  the  high  salaries  that  will  have  to  be  paid  to 
competent  teachers,  the  small  numbers  that  can  efficiently 
be  taught  at  one  time,  all  contribute  to  this  end;  but  surely 
expenditure  in  this  direction  may  legitimately  be  regarded 
as  a  justifiable  form  of  social  investment.  If  ignorance  is 
dangerous  to  the  State,  idleness  is  equally  so;  and  the  State 
which  acknowledges  its  obligation  to  teach  children  to  read 
and  keep  books,  cannot  logically  deny  its  obligation  to 
teach  them  to  work.  In  dealing  with  expenditures  on  indus- 
trial education,  the  aggregate  amounts  should  not  be  dwelt 


SOME  NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  89 

upon,  but  comparisons  made  with  expenditures  in  other 
directions. 
Take  the  following  from  a  current  newspaper:  — 

WASHINGTON,  D.C.,  May  22, 1912.  America's  demand  for  the 
luxuries  of  life  has  not  diminished  with  the  ever-mounting  cost 
of  necessities.  Articles  listed  as  "luxuries  "  imported  into  this 
country  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  next  month  will  exceed 
in  value  $200,000,000.  Luxuries,  or  "articles  of  voluntary  use," 
include  diamonds,  works  of  art,  laces,  embroideries,  wine,  to- 
bacco, ostrich  feathers,  toys,  perfumeries,  cosmetics,  and  jewelry. 
Works  of  art,  according  to  a  statement  issued  to-day,  will  ap- 
proximate $40,000,000  in  value  for  the  full  year,  compared  with 
$22,500,000  in  1911.  Diamonds  and  other  precious  stones  will  be 
about  $41,000,000  for  the  year,  thus  exceeding  any  earlier  years 
except  1910  and  1907.  Laces  and  embroideries  will  amount  to 
about  $44,000,000  for  the  year.  This  is  an  increase  of  fully  fifty 
per  cent  in  a  decade.  Other  "luxuries"  which  help  to  bring  up 
the  grand  total  are  tobacco  and  its  manufactures,  imports  of  which 
for  the  year  will  reach  $32,000,000  in  value,  and  toys  of  which 
$9,000,000  will  be  imported. 

The  above  shows  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  money 
going  to  waste,  some  of  which  could  be  diverted  with  ad- 
vantage to  the  promotion  of  industrial  education. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  discover  the  annual 
amount  spent  and  invested  in  baseball,  but  the  President 
of  the  National  Baseball  Commission  will  not  "even  hazard 
a  guess."  If  this  amount  could  be  discovered,  it  would 
probably  be  found  largely  to  exceed  that  spent  on  indus- 
trial and  technical  education. 

If  retrenchment  is  the  order  of  the  day,  the  schools  are 
the  first  to  suffer,  while  really  there  are  hundreds  of  other 
directions  in  which  we  could  better  afford  to  economize,  but 
economy  except  in  education  is  the  best  hated  of  all  the 
virtues.  We  are  too  ready  to  accept  the  fiction  of  the  politi- 
cian, that  our  schools  are  costing  too  much,  when  the  fact 
is,  that  we  are  too  poor  to  spend  so  little.  Much  more 
than  we  now  spend  would  be  money  in  our  pockets  if 
we  only  knew  the  right  way  to  spend  it.  In  calculating  the 


90  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

expenditure  in  any  other  business,  we  also  estimate  the 
returns  that  may  reasonably  be  expected,  and  so  it  should 
be  here. 

The  Federal  Governments  might  fairly  be  called  on 
to  bear  part  of  the  expense.  It  is  a  popular  fallacy  in  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States  that  education  is  a  matter  of 
Provincial  and  State  concern,  and  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernments cannot  legally  enter  into  the  field.  A  politician 
is  always  able  to  find  an  excuse  for  inaction  and  to  take 
refuge  behind  the  Constitution.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
Constitution  stands  in  his  way  it  does  not  take  him  long  to 
drive  a  coach  and  four  through  it. 

The  United  States  Government,  in  its  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation, in  the  aid  it  gives  to  agricultural  and  engineer- 
ing education,  has  recognized  the  principle  that  indus- 
trial and  technical  education  is  a  matter  of  national 
concern. 

Likewise  the  Canadian  Government  has  established 
experimental  farms,  a  military  college  for  instruction  in 
engineering,  given  a  grant  towards  a  railway  school  at 
McGill  University,  provided  instruction  in  navigation 
and  seamanship,  made  grants  to  art  schools  and  various 
industrial  exhibitions,  and  in  other  ways  tacitly  made  the 
same  admission  as  the  United  States  Government.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  constitutions  would  not  suffer 
irretrievable  damage  should  aid  be  further  extended,  to 
assist  the  great  mass  of  industrial  workers. 

No  single  community  should  be  asked  to  bear  the  whole 
burden.  If  the  individual  could  be  retained  in  the  place 
where  he  received  his  training,  that  community  might 
expect  to  find  its  wealth  proportionately  increased;  but 
labor  moves,  and  especially  trained  labor,  and  after  train- 
ing a  man  the  community  is  liable  to  lose  the  advantages 
arising  from  that  training.  Under  these  circumstances 
no  man  can  be  trained  for  permanent  service  in  the  par- 
ticular locality  where  he  happens  to  live  at  the  time  Jie 


SOME  NEW  TYPES  OF  SCHOOLS  91 

receives  his  training.  He  is  being  trained  for  service  in 
the  country  at  large,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect 
the  country  to  pay,  at  least  partially,  for  what  it  gets. 

The  trouble  is  that  while  people  believe,  or  are  thought 
to  believe,  thoroughly  in  practical  education,  they  are  not 
as  willing  to  expend  large  sums  on  it  as  they  are  upon  the 
long-established  school  or  college  which  has  a  firm  hold 
upon  the  popular  imagination,  and  moreover  is  not  in  an 
experimental  stage.  The  people  will  have  industrial  schools 
when  they  are  willing  to  pay  for  them.  Whether  the  money 
be  supplied  from  public  or  private  sources,  it  is  essential 
from  an  economic  standpoint  that  there  be  no  waste. 

Underlying  all  the  questions  of  the  establishment,  organ- 
ization, and  management  of  such  schools,  is  this  necessity 
for  money.  This  really  fixes  their  extent  and  efficiency. 
Not  only  so,  but  the  attendance  at  them  will  largely  depend 
upon  the  same  factor.  The  parent  and  the  boy  have  to  be 
convinced  that  the  training  given  is  "worth  while,"  and 
that  it  will  not  only  strengthen  the  boy's  powers  and  in- 
tellect, but  will  also  result  in  increased  earning  capacity. 
These  schools  are  not  designed  to  draw  very  largely  from 
the  existing  types  of  high  schools,  which  generally  meet  the 
needs  of  those  attending  them.  They  should  attract  a 
large  part  of  that  floating  population  of  children  between 
thirteen  or  fourteen  to  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  are  at 
present  engaged  in  various  occupations  that  have  no 
educational  value  in  the  present  and  give  no  efficiency  for 
increased  earning  power  in  the  future. 

In  summing  up  the  whole  situation  it  seems  to  be  be- 
yond controversy  that  some  form  of  productive  industry 
will  be  the  life  work  of  the  large  majority  of  children 
leaving  the  public  elementary  schools,  and  also  that  these 
children  are  not  attracted  by,  or  are  not  able  to  avail 
themselves  of,  the  provision  hitherto  made  for  further 
education. 

If  these  propositions  are  admitted   and  recognized  as 


92  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

defects,  it  then  becomes  our  duty  to  provide  a  satisfac- 
tory remedy. 

The  school  suggested  to  accomplish  this  purpose  is  one 
which  will  — 

(1)  Continue  and  extend  the  essentials  of  the  training 
previously  given. 

(2)  Give  to  the  boy  or  girl  from  thirteen  to  sixteen 
years  of  age  a  training  definitely  designed  to  qualify  for 
intelligent  industry. 

(3)  Lay  a  foundation  for  further  study  either  technical 
or  academic. 

(4)  Make  such  provision  that  financial  considerations 
do  not  prevent  the  attendance  of  any  who  wish  to  receive 
the  training  offered. 


VI 


VARIOUS  PROBLEMS  RELATING  TO  SUPPLEMEN- 
TARY EDUCATION  IN  DAY  AND  EVENING  CON- 
TINUATION SCHOOLS 

THERE  are  a  number  of  important  problems  concerned 
with  various  forms  of  supplementary  education.  Some 
of  these  will  now  be  discussed.  After  the  pupil  has  com- 
pleted his  attendance  at  the  primary  school,  or  in  a  few 
cases  attended  a  school  of  the  type  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter,  his  only  hope  for  further  education  is  in 
evening  schools,  or  some  other  supplementary  form  which 
can  be  taken  after  his  daily  work  is  completed,  or  when  he 
is  out  of  work  through  slackness  of  trade  or  other  causes. 

Evening  schools  of  various  kinds  have  long  been  estab- 
lished. Their  first  purpose  was  to  supplement  general  edu- 
cation, and  like  the  day  schools  they  had  no  connection 
with  practical  industry.  To-day  they  are  looked  upon  as 
£n  essential  part  of  any  organized  and  complete  scheme  of 
industrial  education. 

There  is  probably  no  branch  of  our  educational  system 
in  which  so  much  self-deception  has  been  practiced.  We 
have  willfully  blinded  ourselves  to  many  undesirable  fea- 
tures and  stoutly  tried  to  convince  ourselves  that  all  is 
well.  Directly  a  people  gets  the  idea  that  its  educational 
system  is  the  "best  in  the  world,"  it  falls  peacefully  asleep. 
The  sedative  potion  that  is  now  being  administered  in  con- 
nection with  evening  schools  is  the  blessed  word  "enroll- 
ment." We  are  always  proudly  told  how  many  students 
are  "enrolled,"  but  when  it  comes  towards  the  middle  or 
end  of  the  session  the  numbers  in  actual  attendance  are  not 
so  widely  blazoned. 

We  are  inclined  to  pander  to  the  too  prevalent  opinion 


94  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

that  if  an  institution  can  be  filled,  it  is  bound  to  do  good 
work.  We  are  getting  into  the  habit  of  worshiping  size  and 
numbers.  Nothing  stimulates  popular  pride  more  than 
looking  at  the  growth  of  cities  and  the  number  of  people  in 
them.  The  extension  of  the  area  covered  by  bricks  and 
mortar,  with  the  number  of  people  herded  therein,  is  always 
proudly  cited  as  the  first  and  incontestable  evidence  of  the 
growth  of  a  city.  Everybody  does  it,  and  the  fascination 
of  numbers  is  laying  hold  of  us  in  matters  of  education. 
Increase  in  numbers,  unless  accompanied  by  several  other 
things,  is  not  necessarily  an  evidence  of  growth  and  pro- 
gress. 

The  percentage  of  attendance  at  evening  schools  varies, 
but  as  a  general  rule  half  the  enrolled  students  complete 
about  one  half  of  the  possible  attendances.  The  variation 
is  from  twenty  to  sixty  per  cent,  according  to  local  condi- 
tions and  the  character  of  the  instruction.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  where  the  instruction  has  been  based  on  the 
daily  vocations  of  the  pupils,  and  is  directly  applicable  to 
these  vocations,  the  interest  is  far  greater,  the  benefits 
derived  are  more  far-reaching,  and  the  attendance  is  more 
constant  and  regular.  It  has  been  said  that  regular  attend- 
ance is  the  best  evidence  of  sound  organization.  Judged  by 
this  test,  the  majority  of  our  schools  are  badly  organized. 

Evening  school  instruction  is  at  best  a  poor  substitute 
for  adequate  instruction  in  the  daytime,  but  owing  to  social 
and  economic  conditions  it  does  not  seem  possible  to  dis- 
pense with  it.  This  view  is  well  expressed  in  a  Report  of 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Washington 
(No.  33),  on  "Industrial  Education  and  Industrial  Condi- 
tions in  Germany" :  — 

The  evening  school  problem  is  a  real  bane  to  industrial  educa- 
tion, and  is  not  confined  to  any  one  country  or  to  any  one  people, 
but  is  common  to  the  world.  It  is  inherent  in  no  particular  sys- 
tem, but  finds  its  origin  in  an  unavoidable  condition  of  life.  It  is 
unfortunate  but  apparently  irremediable.  It  has  received  the  close 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  95 

attention  and  earnest  thought  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  con- 
scientious promoters  of  the  new  education.  It  has  very  likely 
come  to  stay.  Not  until  we  enjoy  a  universal  prosperity  can 
opportunities  of  education  be  open  equally  to  all.  The  disad- 
vantages of  evening  schools  are  numerous  and  are  easily  patent 
to  any  interested  observer.  Intellectual  application  on  Sundays 
or  in  the  evening,  when  the  body  is  exhausted  with  a  day  or  week 
of  physical  employment,  leads  to  over-exertion,  and  is  apt  to 
arouse  a  feeling  of  repulsion  in  the  learner  toward  the  study 
which  robs  him  of  well-earned  repose.  It  has  also  been  suggested 
that  Sunday  study  of  industrial  subjects  interferes  with  church 
work,  and  leads  to  a  neglect  of  religion  and  higher  moral  thinking. 
Furthermore,  evenings  and  Sundays  together  offer  too  few  hours 
for  proper  systematic  instruction. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  and  admitted  defects  of  even- 
ing class  instruction,  the  fact  remains  that  for  the  large 
mass  of  our  population  it  is  the  only  form  that  can  be  made 
available.  It  is  either  that  or  none.  The  existing  defects  of 
evening  schools  can  be  very  largely  remedied,  and  in  view 
of  the  serious  drop  in  attendance  noted  above,  it  becomes 
incumbent  upon  us  to  seek  measures  to  avoid  this  intellect- 
ual and  economic  waste. 

The  question  of  compulsory  attendance  at  continua- 
tion schools  is  one  that  requires  serious  consideration. 
Democratic  countries  like  Canada  and  the  United  States 
seriously  object  to  compulsion  in  any  form,  so  much  so  that 
their  laws  are  not  always  enforced,  but  are  frequently 
evaded  or  ignored;  notwithstanding  this  objection  to  com- 
pulsion we  shall  never  reap  the  full  benefit  of  day  or  evening 
continuation  schools  until  compulsory  measures  regarding 
attendance  are  adopted.  Every  locality  should  have  the 
power  given  to  it  by  State  or  Provincial  legislation  to  estab- 
lish and  enforce  compulsory  attendance  for  children  up  to 
the  age  of  seventeen  years.  The  time  devoted  to  this  con- 
tinued education,  up  to  six  or  eight  hours  a  week,  could 
very  well  be  taken  from  the  time  now  devoted  to  industry. 

The  Province  of  Ontario  has  recently  passed  such  a  meas- 
ure, entitled  "An  Act  respecting  the  Compulsory  School 


96  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Attendance  of  Adolescents."  "Adolescent"  is  defined  to 
mean  "a  young  person  of  either  sex  who  has  passed  the 
high  school  entrance  examination,  or  completed  the  fourth 
form  (eighth  grade)  of  the  public  schools,  or  an  equivalent 
course,  and  is  under  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  or  who  is 
not  less  than  fourteen  nor  more  than  seventeen  years  of 
age."  The  chief  provisions  of  this  act  are  as  follows :  — 

1.  A  Board  may  pass  by-laws  requiring  the  attendance  of 
adolescents  in  a  city,  town,  or  village  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Board  at  day  or  evening  classes  to  be  established  by 
the  Board  or  at  some  other  classes  or  school  in  the  munici- 
pality. 

2.  Every  such  by-law  shall  be  passed  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Board  called  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  same,  after 
public  notice  of  the  meeting  and  the  object  thereof  has  been 
given   once  a  week  for  four  weeks,  in   some  newspaper 
published  in  the  city,  town,  or  village,  or  if  there  is  no  such 
newspaper,  in  a  newspaper  published  in  an  adjoining  mu- 
nicipality or  in  the  county  or  district  town. 

The  by-laws  may  provide  — 

(a)  For  the  compulsory  attendance  of  every  adolescent  who  is 
not  otherwise  receiving  a  suitable  education. 

(6)  For  the  establishment  of  day  and  evening  classes  for 
adolescents. 

(c)  For  fixing  the  age,  not  exceeding  seventeen  years,  for  such 
compulsory  attendance. 

(d)  For  providing  courses  of  study  and  instructors  approved  by 
the  Minister  of  Education. 

(e)  For  special  classes  for  either  sex,  or  for  both,  and  for  those 
engaged  in  particular  trades  or  occupations  designated  in 
the  by-law. 

(/)  For  fixing  the  seasons  and  number  of  hours  in  each  day  and 
in  each  week  for  the  compulsory  attendance  required  under 
the  by-law. 

Every  by-law  passed  under  this  act  comes  into  operation 
thirty  days  after,  unless  a  petition  is  presented  to  the  Board 
of  Education,  signed  by  at  least  ten  per  cent  of  the  electors, 
praying  that  the  question  be  submitted  to  the  people.  If 
the  by-law  fails  to  receive  the  consent  of  the  electors,  it 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  97 

may  not  be  submitted  again  for  at  least  one  year  there- 
after. Penalties  are  provided  for  violations  of  the  act  either 
by  parent  or  employer.  The  number  of  hours  an  ado- 
lescent is  employed,  added  to  the  number  of  hours  he  is 
required  to  attend  school,  must  in  no  case  exceed  in  any 
day  or  week  the  number  of  hours  such  adolescent  may  be 
lawfully  employed.  The  State  might  well  offer  double 
grants  or  other  consideration  to  any  locality  taking  advan- 
tage of  this  permissive  legislation. 

The  length  of  the  average  working  day  is  a  powerful 
factor  in  determining  the  attendance  at  evening  schools. 
Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  question  of  compulsion, 
the  establishment  of  a  universal  eight-hour  day  for  all 
industrial  workers  must  be  considered  as  a  preliminary  to 
the  education  of  those  working  at  the  trades.  The  adop- 
tion of  this  would  very  much  lessen  the  force  of  the  argu- 
ment that  the  worker  is  not  in  a  fit  state  to  profit  by  in- 
struction when  given  in  addition  to  his  daily  work.  If  an 
eight-hour  day  were  established  and  some  such  measures 
as  indicated  below  were  adopted,  many  of  the  arguments 
urged  against  evening  schools  would  disappear.  These 
measures  should  concern  the  student,  classification,  teacher, 
curriculum,  and  general  organization. 

The  merchant  who  has  goods  to  sell  takes  every  oppor- 
tunity to  bring  them  to  the  attention  of  the  people  for 
whose  trade  he  is  catering,  and  the  same  business  meth- 
ods should  be  applied  here.  The  boy  leaves  school  at  four- 
teen years  of  age  or  earlier.  He  rejoices  in  his  new-found 
freedom  and  thinks  no  more  of  school.  No  boy  or  girl 
should  be  allowed  to  leave  the  elementary  school  without 
having  had  the  evening  school  system  fully  described,  and 
without  having  seen  its  classes  at  work.  The  gap  that  now 
exists  between  the  day  and  evening  school  should  be  no 
longer  allowed  to  continue.  Records  should  be  kept  of 
every  boy  and  girl  leaving  the  day  schools  and  their  occu- 
pation should  be  known. 


98  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

The  Education  Committee  of  Rochdale  (England)  sends 
a  copy  of  the  following  circular  to  every  boy  and  girl  leav- 
ing the  public  elementary  school :  — 

COUNTY  BOROUGH  OF  ROCHDALE  EDUCATION 
COMMITTEE 

The  Members  of  the  above  Committee  very  earnestly  invite 
you  and  all  the  other  scholars  who  have  recently  left  the  Day 
Schools  to  attend  an  Evening  School  during  the  session  commenc- 
ing Monday,  September  — ,  19 — . 

Your  education  only  begins  in  the  Day  School.  To  be  really 
valuable  it  must  still  be  continued  for  several  years. 

Your  future  position  depends  almost  entirely  upon  it,  and  the 
use  you  make  of  the  next  few  years  of  your  life. 

Education  courses  which  begin  in  the  Evening  School  and  end 
in  the  Technical  School  have  been  arranged,  and  these  courses 
aim  at  preparing  students  for  positions  in  both  Workshops  and 
Offices. 

One  of  these  courses  will  suit  you,  but  it  is  essential  that  you 
should  begin  at  once,  before  the  knowledge  gained  in  the  Day 
School  is  lost.  A  few  years'  delay  means  that  you  may  spend  part 
of  your  manhood  re-doing  the  work  of  your  childhood. 

The  accompanying  prospectus  supplies  you  with  particulars  of 
the  Schools,  the  Teachers,  and  the  Subjects  taught,  and  any 
further  information  will  be  readily  supplied  either  at  the  Evening 
Schools  or  at  this  office. 

The  fee  must  be  paid  in  advance  either  in  one  payment  or  by 
such  weekly  installments  as  you  may  privately  arrange  with  the 
Head  Teacher. 

Scholarships  and  Prizes  are  offered  for  competition,  and  the 
students  of  all  Schools  are  eligible  to  compete:  by  this  means  an 
efficient  student  should  be  able  to  secure  a  good  education  free  of 
cost. 


Secretary  of  the  Committee. 
EDUCATION  OFFICE,  BAILLIE  STREET, 
September,  19 — . 

The  cooperation  of  employers  is  essential  to  the  success 
of  any  plan  for  continuation  schools,  day  or  evening. 
Every  employer  should  be  required  to  report  to  the  educa- 
tional authority  the  name,  address,  wages,  and  hours  of 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  99 

labor  of  every  boy  and  girl  employed.  The  Adolescent  Act, 
above  referred  to,  contains  the  following  provision:  — 

Where  a  by-law  passed  under  this  act  is  in  force  every  person 
who  has  hi  his  employment  any  adolescent  to  whom  the  by-law 
applies  shall  give  notice  to  the  Board  of  such  employment  at  such 
times  as  the  by-law  may  require,  and  shall  state  in  such  notice 
the  hours  during  which  the  adolescent  is  employed  by  him. 

The  greatest  incentive  to  the  student  to  engage  in  any 
form  of  industrial  or  vocational  training  must  always  be 
the  monetary  rewards  and  social  recognition  held  out  in 
the  trade  to  which  the  education  is  to  apply.  When  the 
wage-earner  learns  that  increased  skill  means  increased 
wages,  and  all  that  this  includes,  he  will  attend  suitable 
classes  if  offered,  and  here  a  duty  rests  upon  the  employer. 
Something  more  is  required  from  him  than  mere  academic 
recognition  of  the  evening  classes. 

The  average  workman  has  the  idea,  and  he  is  not 
altogether  without  warrant  for  it,  that  the  employer  ad- 
vocates industrial  education  from  personal  and  selfish 
motives;  and  until  he  shows  the  reality  of  his  advocacy  by 
making  attendance  at  these  schools  a  condition  of  employ- 
ment and  a  factor  in  promotion,  by  granting  increased 
wages  or  certain  privileges,  by  paying  all  or  part  of  the 
fees  imposed,  by  a  reduction  of  working  hours  or  of  the 
apprenticeship  term,  that  idea  will  remain  in  the  mind  of 
the  workman. 

The  advantages  accruing  from  increased  earning  capac- 
ity arising  from  adequate  and  efficient  training  should  be 
shared  equally  between  the  employer  and  the  employee. 
One  English  firm  has  adopted  the  plan  of  crediting  each 
apprentice  or  workman,  who  attends  certain  specified 
classes  two  evenings  a  week,  with  one  shilling  (twenty-five 
cents)  weekly,  and  paying  the  same  with  five  per  cent 
interest  added  as  a  bonus  at  the  end  of  apprenticeship  or 
other  fixed  period. 

Another  problem  that  is  met  with  is  a  certain  disin- 


100  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

clination  inherent  in  the  workman  to  avail  himself  of  the 
opportunities  offered,  and  this  disinclination  can  be  over- 
come only  by  showing  him  that  the  instruction  is  calcu- 
lated to  benefit  him  financially,  to  raise  his  social  status, 
and  to  enable  him  to  perform  some  useful  service  to  the 
community  in  which  he  lives.  The  lack  of  desire  may 
often  be  attributed  to  lack  of  opportunity. 

In  order  that  the  greatest  benefit  may  be  obtained 
from  the  instruction  given,  the  majority  of  students  at- 
tending evening  classes  need  a  little  expert  guidance  in 
regard  to  the  courses  it  is  best  for  them  to  take;  and  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  this  guidance  the  school  should  be 
open  at  least  a  week  before  actual  class  work  commences, 
with  capable  persons  in  attendance,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  the  advice  necessary  to  each  individual.  These 
persons  should  have  a  knowledge  not  only  of  what  the 
school  has  to  offer,  but  also  of  the  requirements  and  pros- 
pects of  the  industries  concerned. 

The  classification  of  the  students  is  one  of  the  vital  ques- 
tions upon  which  the  success  of  evening  schools  depends. 
There  is  a  widespread  unwillingness  amongst  organizers  of 
evening  classes  to  exclude  any  student  who  wishes  to  attend, 
and  within  certain  limits  this  is  perfectly  justifiable;  but  in 
the  interests  of  all  concerned  no  student  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  any  class  until  he  is  able  to  give  evidence  that  he 
is  in  a  position  to  profit  by  the  instruction  given.  If  the 
public  school  records,  as  previously  advocated,  have  been 
carefully  kept,  his  capacity  and  ability  will  be  known.  If 
the  scheme  be  properly  organized,  this  does  not  really  mean 
the  exclusion  of  any  student,  but  it  does  mean  his  direction 
to  classes  in  which  his  knowledge  can  be  used  as  a  starting- 
point  for  the  new  instruction  that  is  to  be  given.  At  present 
students  are  herded  together,  those  of  different  ages,  ca- 
pacities, and  occupations  often  being  grouped  in  one  class. 

This  question  is  a  most  complex  one.  Let  us  take  an 
actual  example  or  two.  In  a  town  of  ten  thousand  people, 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  101 

classes  were  organized  in  workshop  mathematics  and  me- 
chanical drawing.  Each  class  was  held  once  a  week,  and 
the  majority  of  students  attended  both.  Thirty-nine  stu- 
dents were  in  regular  attendance,  and  their  ages  varied  from 
fourteen  to  forty-four  years.  Their  occupations  were  as 
follows:  seventeen  woodworkers,  three  tinsmiths,  two 
shoemakers,  nine  machinists,  two  trunkmakers,  two  elec- 
tricians, one  laborer,  two  clerks,  one  rubber-cutter.  The 
attempt  was  being  made  to  give  instruction,  at  one  time, 
suitable  to  each  age  and  to  each  occupation.  The  success 
that  was  being  met  with  need  scarcely  be  stated. 

In  another  town  one  hundred  and  fifty  students  regis- 
tered. Their  ages  ranged  from  fourteen  to  fifty.  There 
were  sixty-seven  between  fourteen  and  twenty;  sixty  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty;  thirteen  between  thirty  and 
forty;  and  ten  between  forty  and  fifty.  As  their  ages 
and  occupations  varied,  so  did  their  attainments.  In  this 
school  forty-three  different  occupations  were  represented, 
and  the  same  plan  was  being  followed  with  the  same  de- 
gree of  success. 

The  instruction  in  cases  like  the  above  has  to  be  directed 
towards  the  average,  and  the  very  dull  and  the  very  bright 
must  be  almost  entirely  ignored.  The  instruction  required 
for  one  trade  is  not  the  same  as  that  required  for  another. 
The  various  subjects  should  be  differentiated  according  to 
the  trade;  arithmetic  for  the  carpenter,  drawing  for  the 
plumber  and  the  tinsmith,  chemistry  for  the  textile  workers. 
Drawing,  mathematics,  and  science  may  be  called  the  "  three 
R's  "  of  industrial  education,  and  before  we  really  know  the 
kind  best  suited  for  each  trade  much  investigation  of  trade 
practice  and  requirements  must  be  undertaken. 

Another  phase  of  the  subject  is  that  relating  to  the 
content  of  courses  of  study  and  to  the  methods  employed 
in  their  presentation.  In  regard  to  the  curriculum  for 
evening  schools,  each  locality,  in  a  great  measure,  will 
be  a  law  unto  itself.  We  are  not  so  much  concerned  at 


102  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

this  stage  with  the  actual  subjects  taught,  as  with  the 
methods  of  presentation.  In  the  first  place,  students 
should  be  encouraged  to  take  courses  of  related  subjects 
rather  than  single  subjects,  though,  of  course,  those  who 
wish  to  take  only  one  subject  should  not  be  barred.  On 
the  completion  of  these  courses  diplomas  should  be  given. 
These  diplomas  should  indicate  a  definite  standard,  and 
be  such  that  employers  will  consider  them  as  incontro- 
vertible evidence  of  the  ability  of  the  student.  The  logi- 
cal or  academic  method  of  treatment  in  the  majority  of 
cases  should  not  be  adopted.  The  instruction  must  begin 
with  topics  of  immediate  interest  and  be  at  once  appli- 
cable to  the  shop  work  of  the  student.  Contrast  with  this 
the  usual  method  of  teaching  mechanical  drawing.  The 
student  is  started  on  a  series  of  plates  generally  copied. 
These  consist  at  first  of  lines  and  angles,  and  geometric 
figures,  which  are  doubtless  of  great  value  when  there  is  a 
prospect  of  the  pupil  spending  three  or  four  years  at  the 
course.  If  the  same  plan  be  followed  in  the  evening  school, 
the  student  will  be  kept  on  such  plates  for  the  first  six  or 
seven  weeks.  He  has  not  the  knowledge  to  enable  him  to 
look  far  enough  ahead  to  see  the  practical  application  of 
these  problems  to  the  work  in  which  he  is  daily  engaged, 
and  so  becomes  discouraged,  and  ceases  his  attendance. 

If  the  logical  method  of  presentation  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary, it  may  be  adopted  after  the  student  has  been  shown, 
by  a  number  of  problems  in  which  he  is  interested,  that  the 
instruction  is  calculated  to  be  of  direct  use  to  him  in  his 
occupation.  The  method  of  teaching  drawing  in  evening 
schools  should  be  more  largely  from  written  specifications 
than  from  plans  and  plates  which  have  to  be  copied  either 
to  the  same  or  a  different  scale. 

In  one  school  a  large  class  was  formed  in  workshop 
mathematics.  After  the  class  had  been  in  session  for  about 
six  weeks,  a  very  serious  drop  in  the  attendance  was  noted, 
about  two  thirds  of  the  students  having  discontinued.  An 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  103 

inquiry  was  made  amongst  the  students,  and  the  reasons 
given  by  them  for  the  discontinuance  of  their  attendance 
were  — 

1.  That  they  could  not  understand  the  instruction. 

2.  That  the  work  given  was  of  no  use  to  them  in  the  shop. 

3.  That  the  teacher  did  not  know  anything  of  the  require- 
ments of  the  industries  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

The  majority  of  these  students  were  all  expert  workmen  at 
their  trades. 

In  another  case  a  class  in  bookkeeping  was  offered,  and 
when  the  students  met  it  was  found  that  not  one  of  them 
knew  enough  of  elementary  arithmetic  to  be  able  to  do  any 
serious  work  in  bookkeeping.  This  was  tactfully  pointed 
out  to  them  and  they  had  intelligence  enough  to  under- 
stand the  situation.  Bookkeeping  was  changed  to  arith- 
metic, excellent  work  was  done,  and  the  attendance  kept 
up  till  the  close  of  the  session.  It  is  not  what  the  school 
desires  to  do,  but  what  the  particular  trade  or  industry 
demands.  The  instruction  must  be  that  desired  by  the  stu- 
dents, and,  by  the  resourceful  teacher,  they  can  generally 
be  made  to  desire  what  they  really  need. 

In  the  prefatory  note  to  the  regulations  for  evening 
schools  issued  by  the  English  Education  Department,  the 
conditions  generally  met  with  are  aptly  described:  — 

So  diverse  are  the  conditions  under  which  such  schools  have  to 
take  part  in  the  work  of  education  that  no  single  definite  scheme 
of  organization  or  course  of  study  can  be  prescribed  as  applicable 
to  all  localities.  Circumstances  of  life  in  town  and  country,  the 
number  and  variety  of  industries  in  the  locality,  previous  educa- 
tion and  future  prospects  of  students,  are  some  of  the  considera- 
tions that  affect  materially  the  possibilities  of  evening  class 
teaching.  In  view  of  this  great  range  of  conditions,  regulations 
which  have  to  be  of  national  application  must  necessarily  be 
elastic.  These  regulations  are  drawn  so  as  to  permit  the  direct 
adaptation  of  the  course  of  instruction  in  each  school  to  the  needs 
of  the  locality.  At  the  same  time  they  prescribe  limitations 
which  aim  at  securing  definite  educational  results  as  a  condition 
of  grants. 


104  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Less  demand  is  generally  found  for  actual  workshop  prac- 
tice than  for  those  subjects  which  are  related  to  the  daily 
work  of  the  students,  but  which  cannot  be  obtained  in  the 
shops.  I  have  in  mind  two  cities  of  about  fifteen  thousand 
population  each,  where  the  main  industries  were  the  various 
forms  of  woodworking.  In  these  it  was  impossible  to  estab- 
lish evening  classes  in  practical  woodworking,  while  draw- 
ing and  workshop  arithmetic  proved  comparatively  popular 
and  useful.  It  is  largely  in  this  connection  that  the  evening 
trade  school  is  capable  of  demonstrating  its  usefulness.  It 
is  not  necessary  for  the  student  to  work  on  those  machines 
at  which  he  is  engaged  during  the  day.  He  requires  prac- 
tice on  other  machines  the  work  on  which  is  more  remuner- 
ative, and  which  will  enable  him  to  take  the  next  step  in 
the  workshop. 

There  is  no  more  important  problem  in  connection  with 
evening  schools  than  the  one  which  concerns  itself  with 
the  selection  of  teachers.  We  have  been  told  for  years  by 
educational  psychologists  that,  "as  is  the  teacher,  so  is 
the  school,"  and  if  this  be  true  anywhere  it  is  certainly 
true  in  the  case  of  the  evening  schools.  Probably  no  single 
cause  has  contributed  more  to  their  comparative  failure 
and  to  the  paucity  and  irregularity  of  attendance  than  the 
incapacity  of  the  teacher  and  his  inability  to  take  the  view- 
point of  the  student  and  of  the  industry  in  which  he  is 
engaged. 

Regarding  the  question  of  the  kind  of  teacher  required 
there  has  always  been,  and  probably  always  will  be,  a 
decided  difference  of  opinion.  On  the  one  hand,  the  present 
educational  authorities  contend  for  the  employment  of  day 
school  teachers  who  know  how  to  teach,  and  on  the  other 
hand,  the  industries  demand  the  engagement  of  teachers 
who  know  what  to  teach,  who  know  shop  work,  and  who  are 
thoroughly  familiar  with  shop  requirements.  Up  to  the 
present  time  the  trained  teacher  has  had  the  preference.  It 
has  been  assumed,  because  a  man  has  been  employed  as  a 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  105 

teacher  of  mathematics,  science,  or  drawing  in  a  school  that 
has  been  successful  in  passing  a  large  number  of  candidates 
into  colleges  or  through  examinations,  that  he  is  thereby 
qualified  to  give  the  kind  of  instruction  that  is  needed  by 
those  engaged  in  the  industries,  but  this  assumption  is 
certainly  not  warranted  by  the  results  that  have  been 
achieved. 

The  purpose  of  the  two  kinds  of  teaching  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent. The  day  school  curriculum  in  the  subjects  men- 
tioned, and  in  others,  contains  much  that  can  be  and  must 
be  dispensed  with  in  evening  school  work,  owing  to  the 
requirements  of  the  students  and  the  time  limitations.  If 
the  man  who  has  been  Jrained  as  a  teacher  is  capable  of 
almost  eradicating  the  habits  of  a  lifetime,  of  taking  an 
entirely  new  viewpoint,  and  of  learning  the  requirements 
of  particular  industries,  he  will  make  an  ideal  teacher  for 
evening  class  work. 

Where  professional  teachers  are  appointed,  they  should 
be  required,  as  a  condition  of  their  appointment,  to  make 
themselves  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  requirements 
of  the  industry  to  which  their  subject  is  to  apply.  This  can 
be  done  on  Saturdays  and  in  the  summer  vacation  previous 
to  the  session  in  which  the  classes  are  to  be  opened.  This 
will,  of  course,  mean  their  appointment  two  or  three  months 
ahead  of  the  time  their  services  are  required.  This  in  its 
turn  will  entail  a  different  method  of  procedure  on  the 
part  of  educational  authorities  generally.  Their  usual  prac- 
tice is  to  think  and  talk  for  months,  and  sometimes  for 
years,  and  then  to  rush  the  whole  business  through  to  com- 
pletion without,  after  all,  adequate  consideration  and  in- 
vestigation. 

The  other  kind  of  teacher  is  the  man  from  the  shop,  a  man 
who  has  lived  the  industry  and  knows  it  from  start  to  fin- 
ish. The  main  purpose  of  the  evening  schools  is  to  give 
such  instruction  as  can  be  used  in  the  daily  work  of  the  stu- 
dent or  is  calculated  to  fit  him  for  a  higher  position  in  the 


106  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

industry.  No  other  kind  will  suffice.  In  a  country  where 
the  industrial  development  has  been  rapid  and  extensive, 
where  new  inventions  are  continually  being  brought  into 
use,  and  where  people  are  alive  and  alert  to  every  turn  of 
the  industrial  wheel,  it  should  not  be  impossible  to  find  well- 
educated  foremen  and  overseers  who  have  the  ability  to 
enable  them  to  impart,  out  of  the  fullness  of  their  know- 
ledge, exactly  the  kind  of  instruction  required  by  the  em- 
ployer and  needed  by  the  student.  No  man  is  able  to  teach 
what  he  does  not  know.  "  No  man  can  teach  the  shop  who 
does  not  know  the  shop."  The  ordinary  teacher  has  been 
set  to  teach  shop  processes  and  he  has  failed.  One  of  our 
greatest  problems  is  to  evolve  a  new  type  of  teacher.  In 
cases  where  appointments  of  this  character  have  been 
made,  the  students  have  recognized  at  once  the  superiority 
and  usefulness  of  the  teacher's  knowledge,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence have  been  regular  in  their  attendance  and  persist- 
ent in  their  efforts  to  obtain  a  measure  of  that  knowledge 
for  themselves. 

Some  who  recognize  the  importance  of  the  provision  of 
the  right  kind  of  teacher  for  industrial  classes  are  advocat- 
ing the  establishment  of  normal  schools  for  this  purpose. 
If  these  schools  are  established,  they  should  have  for  their 
object  the  training  in  the  art  of  teaching  of  those  who  are 
already  expert  workmen  and  not  that  of  training  the  teacher 
in  shop  methods  and  practices.  The  first  method  may  suc- 
ceed, but  the  second  has  within  it  the  germs  of  failure.  The 
real  conditions  of  industry,  its  rigid  requirements  and  limi- 
tations, the  problems  of  the  subdivision  of  labor,  cost,  fac- 
tory organization,  disposal  of  the  output,  and  many  other 
equally  intricate  problems,  can  only  be  learned  in  the 
actual  shop,  and  no  type  of  school  yet  devised  has  been 
able  to  supply  this  experience. 

In  Germany  and  France  vacant  positions  in  industrial 
schools  are  extensively  advertised,  an  examination  is  held, 
and  the  best  mechanics  and  artisans  selected  for  carrying 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  107 

on  the  work.  The  principals  of  these  schools,  particularly 
in  those  cases  where  artisan  instructors  are  employed, 
should  be  men  of  considerable  executive  ability,  intellect- 
ual knowledge,  and  teaching  capacity,  and  should  have  in 
addition  a  wide  and  varied  knowledge  of  the  industries. 
Such  men,  while  not  interfering  with  the  actual  shop  meth- 
ods employed,  will  be  able  to  make  use  of  their  peculiar 
qualities  in  rendering  assistance  to  the  different  members 
of  the  teaching  staff  along  the  lines  in  which  their  training 
has  been  deficient. 

As  evidence  of  the  importance  attached  to  this  question 
in  Munich,  let  us  consider  its  thoroughgoing  method  of 
selecting  teachers.  These  particulars  were  supplied  by  Dr. 
G.  Kirchensteiner  to  Mr.  PauLKreuzpointer,  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Industrial  Education  of  the  American 
Foundrymen's  Association:  — 

There  are  two  sets  of  teachers  of  these  schools,  the  academic 
trained  teacher  for  the  academic  subjects  and  the  expert  mechanic 
for  the  mechanical  part  of  the  instruction.  The  academic  trained 
teacher,  when  detailed  to  teach  in  a  trade  or  industrial  school,  is 
frequently  furloughed  for  a  given  number  of  months  to  work  in  a 
shop  of  the  trade  he  is  detailed  to  teach.  Not,  however,  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  that  trade,  but  to  familiarize  himself  with 
the  business  language  and  business  method  of  that  trade,  so  that 
he  may  be  able  to  apply  the  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of  the 
pupils  whom  he  is  to  instruct. 

For  the  instruction  of  the  mechanical  part  of  the  trade  school 
only  expert  mechanics  are  engaged.  If  in  the  course  of  two  years 
or  so,  these  mechanics  prove  their  inability  to  teach,  they  are  dis- 
missed and  others  engaged  in  their  stead  at  whatever  expense. 
However,  in  trades  like  carpenters,  machinists,  and  others,  where 
expert  mechanics  are  more  numerous,  there  are  always  some 
who  desire  to  become  permanent  trade  school  teachers  with  a 
state  teacher's  certificate. 

These  have  to  submit  to  the  following  rules:  — 

I.  (a)  Proof  of  having  attended  a  trade  or  technical  school  for 
at  least  three  years. 

(6)  Proof  of  practical  trade  education  and  practice. 

(c)  Presentation  of  drawings  and  specimen  of  practical  work- 
manship. 


108  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

(d)  Possession  of  certificate  of  his  dismissal  from  school,  certifi- 
cate of  health  and  good  physical  condition,  certificate  of  employ- 
ment in  practical  work  of  the  trade. 

Provision  (a)  may  be  modified,  by  the  candidate  attending  a 
trade  school  during  the  time  of  his  provisional  engagement  as 
a  teacher. 

II.   Condition  for  examination:  — 

(a)  Production  of  drawings  demanded  by  the  Board  of  Ex- 
aminers. 

(6)  Proof  of  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  materials  used  and 
technical  knowledge  pertaining  to  the  trade. 

(c)  Production  of  specimen  of  workmanship  in  conformity 
with  the  drawings. 

(d)  Estimates  of  cost  of  the  work  done  and  material  used. 
The  examination  extends  over  a  period  of  seven  hours. 

The  successful  passing  of  the  examination  entitles  the  candi- 
date to  a  provisional  engagement  for  one  year,  during  which  he 
receives  no  compensation  nor  acquires  any  right  to  a  permanent 
position.  Only  if  the  candidate  shows  extraordinary  ability  and 
qualifications  may  he  make  application,  after  six  months,  for 
part  compensation. 

At  the  end  of  the  provisional  year  the  candidate  has  to  pass 
another  examination  in  the  practical  management  of  a  class,  and 
if  successful  he  is  given  a  temporary  position  as  a  teacher.  After 
three  years'  temporary  service  he  may  receive  a  permanent 
engagement  according  to  the  following  conditions :  — 

(a)  Presentation  of  drawings  and  specimens  of  workmanship. 

(6)  Estimate  of  the  cost  of  a  piece  of  work  according  to  drawing 
given  by  the  examiner. 

(c)  Production  of  an  essay  on  some  subject  pertaining  to  the 
trade. 

(d)  Lecture  on  some  subject  pertaining  to  the  trade,  know- 
ledge of  tools,  drawing,  bookkeeping,  and  estimating  the  cost  of 
production. 

The  school  and  the  facilities  it  proposes  to  offer  should 
be  extensively  advertised.  The  visitor  in  England  during 
July  and  August  cannot  fail  to  notice  on  all  the  bill-posting 
stations  large  posters  advertising  the  classes  to  be  held  dur- 
ing the  following  winter.  The  fullest  use  should  be  made 
of  the  local  press  in  giving  publicity  to  the  school  and  its 
courses.  With  reference  to  this,  the  principal  of  a  recently 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  109 

established  Industrial  School  in  the  Province  of  Ontario 
has  said  i  — 

There  is  no  class  in  the  community  more  ready  to  champion 
the  cause  of  industrial  education  than  newspaper  editors. 
Through  them  much  may  be  done  to  prepare  the  public  for  the 
introduction  of  industrial  schools.  Newspaper  articles  giving  the 
experience  of  other  places  may  arouse  local  pride  and  lead  to  a 
demand  for  the  establishment  of  such  schools.  At  the  same  time, 
the  newspaper  editor,  being  an  exceedingly  busy  man,  will  appre- 
ciate being  supplied  with  data  on  industrial  education,  which  he 
has  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  collect  for  himself.  To  supply 
such  data  is  an  important  part  of  the  work  of  those  interested  in 
the  introduction  of  vocational  schools. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  are  two  examples  (very 
much  reduced)  of  posters  referred  to  above.  The  first  is 
one  which  is  displayed  in  all  the  factories  and  endorsed  by 
the  firm.  The  second  is  one  issued  on  the  reopening  of  the 
school  for  the  winter  term. 

The  question  of  fees  is  one  of  considerable  importance. 
It  may  be  stated  as  a  general  principle  that  free  evening 
schools  have  not  been  a  success.  There  is  a  widespread 
feeling  in  the  human  mind  that  'anything  obtained  for 
nothing  is  not  worth  having.  A  fee  should  be  charged.  It 
should  be  nominal  and  never  high  enough  to  bar  out  any 
student  wishing  to  attend.  Provision  should  also  be  made 
for  remitting  this  fee,  privately,  in  necessary  cases.  In  some 
schools  the  fee  is  payable  in  installments  if  the  student  so 
desires.  A  method  that  has  been  adopted  in  some  places, 
with  considerable  success,  has  been  to  charge  a  fee  and 
hold  it  as  a  guaranty  for  good  behavior  and  general  pro- 
gress, returning  it  at  the  end  of  the  session  to  all  who  make 
a  certain  fixed  percentage  of  attendance  and  otherwise 
satisfy  the  instructors.  This  fee  is  sometimes  returned  in 
the  form  of  a  bank  deposit,  instruments,  or  books. 

The  length  of  time  the  evening  schools  are  in  session  also 
requires  consideration.  Is  there  any  reason  except  anti- 
quated tradition  why  these  schools  should  be  open  for  only 


ST.  THOMAS 

Industrial  School 

EVENING  CLASSES 


1912— COURSES— 1913 


Woodworking. 
Building  Construction. 
Mathematics. 
Mechanical  Drawing. 
Applied  Science. 


Dressmaking 
Millinery. 

Commercial  Work. 
Practical  English. 


ANY  person  over    fourteen    years  of  age  is  entitled  to  attend    these 
classes,  if  not  enrolled  in  a  day  school. 

Here  is  a  chance  for  you  to  increase  your  earning  power,  cultivate  your 
mind  and  make  yourself  a  more  useful  citizen. 

There  is  no  entrance  examination.  Circular  and  application  form  may 
be  had  at  the  office  of  this  firm.  The  principal  will  be  pleased  to  give 
information  or  advice  to  any  one  interested.  He  will  be  in  the  City  Hall, 
evenings  October  9th',  and  llth  from  7.30  to  9.30  to  enroll  intending  pupils. 


FALL  TERMS: 

October  28th  to  December  20th. 

SPRING  TERMS. 

January  6th  to  April  30th. 

We  have  pleasure  in  recommending  these  Classes  of  the  St.  Thomas 
Industrial  School  to  our  employees. 


Firm  Signature. 


REGISTER  NOW  FOR  WINTER  TERM. 

LONDON 

Industrial  and  Art  School 

EVENING  CLASSES. 

**  Education  for  Efficiency. " 
COURSES : 


Machine  Shop  Practice. 

Forge  Shop  Practice. 

Woodworking. 
xPatternmaking. 

Building  Construction. 
xHeating  and  Sanitary 

Engineering. 
xWoodcarving. 
xSign  Writing. 


Mechanical  Drawing, 

Architectural  Drawing. 

Mathematics. 

Practical  English. 

Dressmaking. 

Millinery. 

Cooking. 

Home  Economics. 

Art  and  Design. 


Course*  marked  "  x  "  are  .New  Courses  for  Winter  Term. 

ANY  resident  of  the  City  who  is  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  who  does 
not  attend  day  school,  is  eligible  to  attend  the  Evening  Classes  of  the 
London.  Industrial  and  Art  School. 

The  Principal  will  be  pleased  to  explain  the  courses  to  anyone  interested. 
He  will  be  in  the  school,  corner  King  and  Colborne  Streets,  any  Monday. 
Tuesday,  Wednesday  or  Thursday  evening  during  the  school  term  from 
7.30  to  9.30.     There  is  sure  to  be  a  rush  for  places  in  January. 
If  you  are  interested,  call  at  the  school  or  phone  3800. 
Application  Cards  may  also  be  had  at  the  Public  Library. 


DAY  INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES  FOR  BOYS  AND  GIRLS 
from  14  to  16  years  of  age. 


Don't  leave  it  till  January;  register  now. 


An  AFTERNOON  ART  CLASS  will  be  opened  in  January. 


WINTER  TERM  OPENS  MONDAY,  JANUARY  6th. 


112  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

six  months  of  the  year  ?  In  cool,  well-ventilated,  well- 
lighted  buildings  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not 
continue  all  the  year  round.  In  New  York  and  other  cities 
very  successful  evening  schools  for  foreigners  have  been 
held  during  the  summer.  True,  these  students  have  a  seri- 
ous motive  underlying  their  attendance;  they  are  getting 
just  what  they  want;  but  if  the  same  conditions  could  be 
brought  about  in  evening  industrial  schools  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  the  same  results  would  follow.  If 
these  classes  were  continued,  all  of  course  would  not  attend, 
but  certainly  those  most  in  earnest  would  do  so,  and  the 
loss  of  knowledge  and  interest  that  is  incurred  through  the 
total  cessation  of  the  work  for  five  or  six  months  would  be 
considerably  reduced. 

The  evening  schools  should  be  regarded  not  only  as  edu- 
cational centres  but  also  as  social  centres.  Trace  should  be 
kept  during  the  summer  of  every  student  who  attended  the 
schools  during  the  previous  winter.  This  might  be  done  by 
means  of  the  organized  educational  excursion.  Even  dur- 
ing the  winter  months  more  social  opportunities  should  be 
offered.  Social  intercourse  under  proper  supervision  and 
direction  has  in  addition  a  decidedly  educational  influence 
and  should  be  made  use  of  wherever  possible.  Every  school 
might  be  provided  with  a  good  optical  lantern  or  cinemato- 
graph and  periodical  lectures  given  on  industrial  subjects 
to  the  whole  school.  Opportunities  for  the  meeting  to- 
gether of  all  the  students  at  concerts,  lectures,  etc.,  could 
very  well  be  multiplied.  At  present  many  schools  consist  of 
isolated  classes,  having  no  connection  one  with  the  other. 

In  order  to  secure  effective  teaching,  the  classes  should 
be  much  smaller  than  is  generally  the  case  and  the  utmost 
use  should  be  made  of  individual  instruction.  No  matter 
what  method  of  classification  be  adopted,  it  will  never  hap- 
pen that  a  class  can  be  organized  the  members  of  which  are 
of  equal  attainments  and  ability.  The  student  must  be  made 
to  feel  that  his  individuality  is  recognized  and  that  his 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  113 

identity  is  not  lost  in  the  mass.  Large  classes  in  either  day 
or  evening  schools  are  decidedly  wasteful. 

The  schools  generally  open  at  seven  or  seven-thirty. 
Why  should  they  not  be  open  one  or  two  hours  earlier,  in 
order  that  the  students  who  do  not  wish  or  are  not  able  to 
go  home  may  enter,  and  read  or  study,  after  having  been 
provided  with  facilities  for  washing,  and  getting  tea  ? 

The  most  successful  schools  have  definite  plans  of  mak- 
ing inquiries  after  absentees.  In  some,  reply  post-cards  are 
sent.  The  following  is  a  sample  of  such  a  card :  — 

INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL 

191 

Dear  Sir  (or  Madam)  — 

I  find  that  you  were  absent  from  the 

While  we  recognize  the  fact  that  absence  is  sometimes  unavoid- 
able, yet  regular  attendance  is  so  essential  to  good  classwork,  and 
to  the  progress  of  the  individual  student,  that  we  expect  our 
students  to  make  a  special  effort  to  attend  regularly,  and  be 
present  on  time. 

We  are  anxious  that  all  the  students  now  enrolled  should  com- 
plete the  course,  but  in  justice  to  those  on  the  waiting  list  and  to 
the  work  of  the  school,  we  cannot  hold  places  for  students  who 
are  absent  from  classes  except  for  a  sufficient  reason. 

The  term  certificates,  upon  which  graduation  diplomas  will  be 
based,  can  be  granted  only  to  those  who  attend  80  per  cent  of  the 
classes  in  the  course.  Kindly  let  me  know  the  reason  of  your 
absence. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Principal. 

Better,  perhaps,  even  than  this  is  a  system  of  visitation. 
Absence  in  many  cases  is  unavoidable.  If  the  absence  is 
prolonged,  students  hesitate  to  return,  fearing  that  they  will 
not  be  able  to  "catch  up."  This  difficulty  may  be  over- 
come by  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  printed  or  typewritten 
notes  of  lessons  and  directions  for  home  work,  for  those 
who  are  thus  obliged  to  be  absent.  Indeed,  it  is  well  worth 
consideration  whether  each  student  ought  not  to  be  pro- 


114,  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

vided  with,  or  required  to  make,  a  summary  of  each  even- 
ing's work.  These  would  be  exceedingly  useful  for  purposes 
of  review  during  the  summer  and  before  the  classes  re- 
commence after  vacations. 

This  brings  into  consideration  the  question  of  suitable 
textbooks.  There  is  a  fortune  for  the  enterprising  publisher 
who  will  give  to  the  schools  a  series  of  suitable  texts  for  the 
study  of  those  engaged  in  specific  trades.  These  books  will 
have  to  be  written  by  men  who  know  the  shops,  assisted 
perhaps  by  those  who  know  how  to  present  a  subject  in  the 
most  effective  manner.  Examples  of  such  books  are  the 
"Lowell  Textile  Arithmetic,"  previously  referred  to,  and 
the  "Manuals  for  Apprentices"  published  by  the  Brown 
and  Sharp  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  Grand  Trunk 
Railway  System.  If  books  of  this  character  were  available, 
it  would  lead  to  much  less  waste  in  teaching  and  the  eco- 
nomic results  would  be  immeasurably  greater. 

The  organization  of  industrial  .classes  will  vary  accord- 
ing to  the  extent  and  character  of  the  industries  carried  on. 
The  town  with  one  industry  presents  a  problem  that  is  not 
difficult  to  solve.  The  educational  authorities  and  the 
leaders  of  the  industry  can  easily  be  brought  together  and  a 
workable  cooperative  scheme  readily  devised  to  permeate 
the  whole  educational  system.  The  same  principle  applies 
here  as  elsewhere.  Nothing  definite  and  worth  while  can 
be  done  without  this  cooperation,  and  the  sooner  the  four 
parties  to  the  contract  —  the  public,  the  educational  au- 
thorities, the  employers,  and  the  employees  —  recognize 
this,  the  sooner  we  shall  achieve  results  which  will  mutu- 
ally benefit  all  concerned. 

The  town  in  which  there  is  a  large  number  of  small  but 
important  industries  presents  a  rather  complicated  prob- 
lem. First  of  all,  an  accurate  investigation  should  be  under- 
taken with  the  object  of  discovering  the  number  of  persons 
engaged  in,  and  the  prospects  offered  by,  each  industry. 
The  industries  should  then  be  grouped,  and  instruction 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  115 

arranged,  first,  for  the  more  important  groups,  then  for  the 
less  important,  and  finally,  for  the  individual  trades  in  each 
group.  This  investigation  must  be  accurate.  No  mere  gen- 
eral idea  will  be  sufficiently  reliable  as  a  basis  for  action.  In 
a  town  previously  referred  to,  forty-three  trades  were  repre- 
sented in  the  evening  school  and  only  two  students  were 
electricians.  In  a  day  industrial  school  about  to  be  estab- 
lished in  that  city,  it  was  proposed  to  make  electricity  one 
of  the  practical  subjects,  owing  to  a  general  idea  that  it  was 
one  of  the  chief  industries. 

Let  us  take  an  example  of  a  successful  organization  in  a 
small  town. 

Montrose  in  Scotland  has  a  population  of  12,500  people. 
Here,  as  in  practically  every  town  in  the  British  Isles,  it  is 
recognized  that  provision  must  be  made  for  the  education 
of  those  whose  elementary  training  in  the  primary  schools 
is  either  unfinished  or  has  lapsed,  and  hence  the  first  divi- 
sion in  the  evening  school  scheme  of  this  town  is  an  elemen- 
tary class,  and  students  are  not  admitted  into  the  higher 
courses  unless  they  have  passed  through,  or  are  capable  of 
passing  through,  this  elementary  section.  Pupils  who  are 
compelled  by  law  to  attend  the  day  schools  are  not  admitted 
to  the  evening  schools. 

The  second  division  is  comprised  of  various  courses,  — 
domestic,  commercial,  industrial,  science,  and  art,  —  and 
each  course  contains  several  subdivisions.  Students  are 
admitted  to  these  if  they  are  over  sixteen  years  of  age  or  if 
they  hold  the  certificate  granted  on  passing  through  the 
elementary  section. 

The  third  division  is  really  supplementary  and  recog- 
nizes the  social  and  physical  side  of  the  work.  Courses, 
which  are  open  only  to  those  in  attendance  at  one  or  more 
of  the  other  classes,  are  organized  in  physical  drill,  gym- 
nastics and  swimming,  all  under  competent  direction. 

The  organization  required  in  a  large  city  is  in  some  re- 
spects simpler  in  others  more  complex  than  that  possible 


116  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

in  the  smaller  towns.  There  is  much  more  to  be  done 
but  there  is  a  larger  amount  of  money  available  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  there  is  generally,  with  some  exceptions,  a  larger 
and  broader  public  spirit.  Probably  the  best  examples  of 
organized  schemes  for  large  cities  are  those  afforded  by 
Leeds  (England;  population,  1901,  428,968)  and  Manches- 
ter (England;  population,  543,969).  In  both  cases  there 
has  been  a  most  careful  study  of  the  industrial  conditions 
and  a  definite  attempt  made  to  devise  plans  which  are  well 
coordinated  with  the  general  system,  and  which  utilize 
every  existing  agency  to  meet  the  needs  of  all  grades  of 
workers.  In  the  case  of  Leeds  the  courses  end  in  the  uni- 
versity, and  in  that  of  Manchester  in  the  municipal  schools 
of  technology,  art,  and  commerce,  three  separate  institu- 
tions which  are  all  affiliated  with  the  University  of  Man- 
chester. In  Leeds  the  industrial  courses  provide  instruc- 
tion for  those  engaged  in  the  following  trades:  — 

1.  Engineering  trades:  (a)  mechanical;  (b)  electrical. 

2.  Electrical  industries. 

3.  Building  trades. 

4.  Leather  and  boot  trades. 

5.  Clothing  trades. 

6.  Chemical  and  allied  industries. 

7.  Mining. 

8.  Textile  industries. 

9.  Printing. 
10.  Farriery. 

The  organization  of  the  Manchester  scheme  is  shown  on 
the  opposite  page  in  diagrammatic  form. 

Notwithstanding  the  perfection  of  organization  and  the 
facilities  offered,  the  number  of  pupils  taking  advantage  of 
the  classes  is  not  as  satisfactory  as  the  promoters  desire. 
In  both  cities  the  day  school  plants  are  used  for  evening 
classes,  and  though  each  has  elaborate  buildings  devoted 
to  technology,  Manchester  particularly  so,  yet  the  enroll- 
ment consists  almost  entirely  of  evening  school  students. 


GRADE   III.     CENTRAL  INSTITUTIONS 

MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL 

OP 

TECHNOLOGY 

MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL 
OF  COMMERCE 
AND  LANGUAGES 

MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL 
OF  ABT 

MUNICIPAL  SCHOOL 
OF  DOMESTIC  ECON- 
OMY AND  COOKERY 

Specialized  instruc- 
tion in  science  and 
technology 

Specialized  instruc- 
tion in  commercial 
subjects  and  in  lan- 
guages 

Specialized  instruc- 
tion in  art  and  de- 
sign 

Specialized  instruc- 
tion    in     domestic 
subjects 
[Day  classes  only] 

GRADE   II.     BRANCH  TECHNICAL  SCHOOLS,  BRANCH   COMMERCIAL 
SCHOOLS,   BRANCH   ART   CLASSES,   AND   EVENING  SCHOOLS  OF 
DOMESTIC   ECONOMY 

Second,  Third,  and 
Fourth  Year  Tech- 
nical    Courses, 
to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  all  classes 
of  technical  students 

Second,  Third,  and 
Fourth  Year  Com- 
mercial   Courses, 
to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  juniors  in 
business  houses 

First  and  Second 
Year  Art  Courses, 
leading   up   to   the 
instruction    at   the 
Municipal  School  of 
Art 

Specialized  Instruc- 
tion  in    Domestic 
Subjects,    for    wo- 
men and   girls  over 
sixteen  years  of  age 

GRADE  I.     EVENING   CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS 

First  and  Second  Year 
Technical  Courses,  for 
boys  engaged  in  manual 
occupations 

First  and  Second  Year 
Commercial     Courses, 
for  boys  and  girls  engaged 
in  commercial  or  distribu- 
tive occupations 

First  and  Second  Year 
Domestic  Courses,  for 
girls  desirous  of  receiv- 
ing a  training  in  domes- 
tic subjects 

PREPARATORY   COURSE 

For  boys  and  girls  who  desire  to  improve  their  general  education  or  who  are  not 
sufficiently  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  above  courses 

118  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

In  Manchester  there  are  30,000  pupils  of  all  ages  attending 
the  classes,  and  courses  are  offered  in  thirteen  groups.  In 
the  School  of  Technology  separate  and  distinct  courses  are 
offered  in  one  hundred  and  three  subjects. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  England  and  Wales  twenty- 
two  per  thousand  of  the  population  attend  evening  classes 
which  are  under  Government  inspection.  This  does  not 
take  into  consideration  a  very  large  number  of  private 
institutions  which  offer  instruction  in  various  subjects. 
This  proportion  is  greater  than  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world  where  compulsion  does  not  exist. 

The  effective  working  of  these  classes  depends  largely 
upon  the  active  cooperation  of  those  connected  with  the 
industries.  For  this  reason  industrial  representatives  are 
being  called  upon  to  take  a  place  on  the  organizing  bodies. 
The  Ontario  Industrial  Education  Act,  passed  in  the  legis- 
lative session  of  1910,  provides  for  advisory  industrial  and 
commercial  committees  before  classes  and  schools  can  be 
established.  These  committees  have  wide  powers.  On  the 
one  hand,  school  boards  are  protesting  that  these  powers 
are  too  great,  and  on  the  other,  the  committees  say  that 
they  are  hampered  by  the  academic  traditions  that  domi- 
nate the  older  educational  authorities.  These  bodies  have 
been  established  in  a  large  number  of  towns,  and  in  every 
case  are  doing  excellent  work,  which  could  not  have  been 
done  by  the  older  authority,  owing  to  the  lack  of  direct 
representation  of  capital  and  labor.  The  committees  are 
composed  first  of  six  members  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
who  elect  six  additional  members  —  three  employers  and 
three  employees.  The  Manchester  scheme  provides  for 
a  separate  committee  for  each  group  of  industries. 

The  experience  of  Germany  and  other  Continental  coun- 
tries tends  to  prove  that  the  general  educational  authority 
is  not  the  body  best  fitted  to  have  the  sole  control  of  the 
system  of  industrial  education.  On  the  other  hand,  that 
experience  shows  also  that  its  entire  removal  from  this 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  119 

authority  is  not  conducive  to  its  most  efficient  develop- 
ment. This,  of  course,  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  indus- 
trial schools  have  two  sides  —  the  educational  and  the 
industrial  —  which  cannot  be  separated,  as  they  merge 
one  into  the  other.  One  requires  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence of  educational  methods  and  practice,  and  the  other 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  needs  and  requirements 
of  industry. 

The  experience  of  other  countries  also  shows  that  it  is 
not  possible  to  build  up  a  satisfactory  system  of  industrial 
education  unless  the  elementary  and  secondary  education 
is  sound  and  efficient.  It  is  probably  for  this  reason  that 
the  Germans  in  their  scientific  organization  have  found  it 
advisable  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  two  administrative 
bodies,  one  having  charge  of  educational  matters  and  the 
other  of  industrial  affairs.  Such  cooperation  is  universal 
throughout  all  the  German  States.  This  is  intended  to 
secure  two  things :  first,  that  the  instruction  shall  be  of  the 
kind  needed  by  the  industry,  and  second,  that  the  educa- 
tional methods  employed  are  those  best  calculated  to  bring 
about  the  ends  desired.  The  weakness  of  the  plan  as  ap- 
plied in  America  will  be  that  the  representatives  on  these 
committees  of  the  boards  of  education  are  by  no  means 
educational  experts,  while  the  representatives  of  the  indus- 
tries are  chosen  for  the  reason  that  they  are  industrial  ex- 
perts. The  principal  of  the  school  to  some  extent  will  be 
able  to  correct  this.  He  should  always  have  a  seat  on  the 
committee,  but  in  a  democratic  organization  could  not 
expect  the  right  to  vote. 

Let  us  now  consider  various  other  forms  of  supplemen- 
tary education  which  are  open  to  the  industrial  worker. 

There  is  a  decided  trend  in  educational  affairs  towards 
that  form  known  as  the  "correspondence  school."  Here 
the  way  has  been  largely  shown  by  a  commercial  organ- 
ization of  world-wide  reputation.  Contrary,  perhaps,  to 


120  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  usual  opinion,  it  seems  to  me  that  correspondence 
instruction,  when  it  is  properly  organized  and  controlled  for 
the  benefit  of  the  student,  is  one  of  the  most  useful  forms 
that  this  supplementary  education  can  take.  This  proviso 
cuts  out  the  commercial  enterprise  maintained  solely  for 
the  benefit  of  its  stockholders. 

Probably  the  best  example  of  a  public  organization  along 
these  lines  is  the  university  extension  division  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin.  This  is  one  of  the  coordinate  colleges 
of  the  university,  and  consists  of  four  departments,  the 
fourth  of  which  is  known  as  the  "Correspondence  Study 
Department."  In  it  instruction  is  given  in  five  main  divi- 
sions:— 

1.  Special  vocational  studies. 

2.  Elementary  school  branch. 

3.  High  school  and  preparatory  subjects. 

4.  Special  advanced  work. 

5.  Regular  university  work. 

In  all,  thirty-five  departments  of  the  university  are 
represented.  They  embrace  two  hundred  and  six  distinct 
courses  of  study,  and  nearly  all  can  be  taken  by  corre- 
spondence. The  students  are  laborers,  apprentices,  farmers, 
skilled  mechanics,  clerks,  salesmen,  stenographers,  drug- 
gists, bankers,  teachers,  lawyers,  clergymen,  and  doctors. 
In  addition  to  the  instruction  by  correspondence,  local 
representatives  of  the  university  are  appointed,  where  the 
number  of  the  students  is  sufficiently  large,  and  classes  are 
formed  to  supplement  the  correspondence  instruction. 
In  marked  contrast  to  the  commercial  type  of  school,  only 
about  five  per  cent  of  the  students  discontinue  their  work 
before  completing  the  courses.  There  are  over  two  thou- 
sand students  registered  for  special  vocational  studies.  In 
addition  to  the  local  representatives  a  traveling  professor 
has  been  appointed. 

The  President  of  the  University,  in  speaking  of  these 
courses,  says:  — 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  121 

But  in  order  to  make  this  more  successful  it  was  necessary  to 
get  the  cooperation  of  the  merchants  and  manufacturers.  There- 
fore we  came  into  Milwaukee  and  presented  the  case  to  the  manu- 
facturers of  this  city.  Some  of  them  said,  "We  will  give  you  an 
opportunity  to  meet  the  men  in  our  shops  ";  a  number  of  them 
offered  quarters  for  classrooms;  and  some  of  them  went  so  far  as 
to  say,  "We  will  pay  the  men  for  the  time  they  are  receiving 
classroom  instruction."  In  Milwaukee  at  the  present  time  we 
have  more  than  one  thousand  students  doing  vocational  work 
in  twenty  different  manufactories.  Thus  the  defects  of  corre- 
spondence work  have  been  remedied,  and  instead  of  ninety-five 
per  cent  dropping  out  of  a  course  before  its  completion,  less  than 
five  per  cent  do  so.  Already  we  are  told  by  the  merchants  and 
manufacturers  of  Milwaukee  that  the  effects  of  this  movement 
are  seen  in  the  increased  efficiency  of  their  workmen;  that  it 
furnishes  them  better-trained  foremen  and  in  greater  numbers. 

A  number  of  other  universities,  notably  Chicago,  Kan- 
sas, Nebraska,  and  Minnesota,  have  followed  the  same  plan 
and  afford  brilliant  examples  of  higher  institutions  that 
recognize  to  the  fullest  extent  their  obligations  to  the  people 
from  whom  they  largely  draw  their  support.  In  providing 
the  workman  with  the  instruction  he  needs,  his  convenience 
and  his  necessities  should  both  be  taken  into  consideration. 
Unfortunately,  even  with  the  most  perfect  system  of  day 
and  evening  schools,  too  many  will  not  be  able  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  facilities  offered. 

Another  excellent  example  of  the  correspondence  school 
is  that  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  International 
Typographical  Union.  This  organization  fought  and  won 
a  severe  battle  for  the  eight-hour  day,  and  owing  to  the  de- 
sire to  influence  the  new-found  leisure  of  its  members,  and 
to  counteract  the  specialization  that  was  preventing  any 
real  learning  of  the  trade  in  its  entirety,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  devise  a  scheme  of  education  that  would  be 
acceptable  to  the  fifty  thousand  members  of  the  union. 
The  scheme  had  to  meet  the  needs  of  both  the  expert 
printer  in  the  large  city  and  the  mere  beginner  in  a  back- 
woods town.  The  course  was  not  designed,  primarily,  to 


122  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

make  printers,  but  to  give  to  all  engaged  in  the  trade  an 
education  supplementary  to  that  of  the  printing-office.  The 
course  of  instruction  consists  of  thirty-seven  lessons  and 
costs  the  student  twenty  dollars.  Under  commercial  con- 
ditions and  at  prevailing  prices  this  cost  would  be  at  least 
sixty  or  seventy  dollars.  It  is  open  to  both  unionists  and 
non-unionists,  the  only  condition  being  that  students  must 
be  compositors,  either  journeymen  or  apprentices.  Dur- 
ing 1909-10  the  school  had  sixteen  thousand  pupils  en- 
rolled. This  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  and  desirable  form 
of  trade-union  activity.  Industrial  education  is  one  of 
labor's  rights,  and  as  such  should  form  part  of  every  union 
propaganda.  Seven  other  unions  have  taken  up  work  of 
this  character. 

There  are  a  number  of  very  small  towns  which  require 
special  methods.  Many  are  without  even  manual  training 
for  the  boys  or  household  science  for  the  girls,  owing  to  the 
expense  of  equipment  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  teach- 
ers, to  say  nothing  of  the  general  apathy  of  the  people. 
The  only  hope  for  the  ambitious  industrial  worker  in  a 
number  of  these  towns  is  the  correspondence  method  or 
the  organization  of  a  cooperative  scheme  by  which  three 
or  four  towns  on  an  electric  or  steam  railway  may  combine 
to  engage  a  teacher  between  them,  the  teacher  to  spend  a 
day  or  night,  or  two,  in  each  locality  according  to  the 
requirements  of  the  constituency.  In  this  way  the  expenses 
could  be  shared  and  a  new  and  beneficial  influence  pro- 
jected into  the  community.  There  is  scarcely  a  State  or 
Province  where  a  number  of  groups  could  not  be  organ- 
ized on  this  basis. 

Traveling  dairy  schools  have  been  established  in  some 
Provinces  and  are  doing  much  useful  work.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion for  debate  whether  the  agricultural  college  is  not 
doing  more  for  the  farmer  by  taking  the  college  to  him 
than  by  attempting  to  bring  him  to  the  college.  In  the 
county  of  Hampshire  (England)  the  education  authority 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  123 

maintains  a  dairy  school  and  traveling  forge,  which  travels 
for  forty  weeks  during  the  year  and  gives  a  ten-day  course 
in  each  district.  These  courses  are  proving  very  popular 
and  are  meeting  the  needs  of  the  people. 

In  Prussia  there  have  been  established  in  factory  dis- 
tricts traveling  courses  for  masters  and  foremen.  The  cost 
is  large  and  is  partly  defrayed  by  the  State.  The  instruc- 
tion is  given  by  traveling  teachers  during  the  winter  months 
and  is  sometimes  connected  with  the  trade  schools  of  the 
locality.  In  1908,  nearly  a  thousand  courses  were  given  in 
forty-eight  different  localities,  and  the  movement  is  rapidly 
growing. 

In  this  connection  it  should  even  be  possible  to  establish 
traveling  workshops.  A  large  car  could  be  fitted  up  with- 
out much  difficulty  as  a  carpenter,  machine,  or  blacksmith 
shop,  or  as  an  ordinary  classroom,  and  stationed  on  a  sid- 
ing for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  and,  after  giving  instruction  to 
all  who  cared  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  be  moved  to  the 
next  locality. 

Why  should  there  not  be  generally  organized  schools  for 
workmen  who  are  unemployed  during  the  winter  months? 
In  Chicago  there  is  such  a  school  held  for  four  months 
during  the  winter  for  unemployed  carpenters,  and  the 
practice  might  well  be  extended  to  other  trades.  In  these 
winter  courses  opportunities  should  be  given  not  only  for 
improvement  in  the  trade  in  which  the  workman  is  at 
present  engaged,  but  facilities  should  be  offered  for  learning 
a  new  trade.  Seasonal  workers  would  be  in  a  much  better 
position  if  they  possessed  the  ability  to  work  at  two  voca- 
tions, one  of  which  is  busy  while  the  other  is  slack. 

Industrial  trade  museums,  scattered  through  various 
parts  of  the  country,  are  a  distinct  feature  of  the  German 
system,  and  a  feature  to  which  as  yet  we  have  paid  little 
attention.  These  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  a  supplemen- 
tary form  of  industrial  education.  Their  influence  in  the 
development  of  trade  and  industry,  in  the  elevation  of  taste, 


124  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  inspiring  of  ambition  to  excel,  and  in  many  other  ways, 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  Take  the  Gewerbe  Museum 
in  Nuremberg,  for  example.  According  to  the  prospectus, 
the  work  of  that  institution  is  carried  on  under  eight  dif- 
ferent divisions:  — 

1.  The  collection  of  patterns  or  samples,  which  consists 
of  more  than  10,000  specimens  of  ancient  and  modern  exam- 
ples of  works  in  wood,  metal,  clay,  glass,  leather,  and  paper; 
also  woven  fabrics,  embroideries,  laces,  etc.  Certain  of 
these  objects  can  be  obtained  on  loan. 

2.  The  collection  of  designs,  which  consists  of  some 
70,000  sheets  of  illustrations  of  art  industries  of  all  nations. 
These  mounted  sheets  are  classified  under  various  heads 
and  arranged  in  cases  for  easy  reference  by  manufacturers 
and  students.  To  procure  these  designs,  recourse  has  been 
made  to  illustrated  works  on  ornament  and  art  work- 
manship, and  to  the  best  serial  publications  of  all  coun- 
tries. Opportunity  is  afforded  of  consulting  and  copying 
them,  and  the  officials  undertake  to  prepare  special  designs 
for  fees,  to  be  arranged. 

3.  The  library  and  reading-room  contain  upwards  of 
fifteen  thousand  volumes  of  art,  industrial,  and  technical 
works;  also  about  two  hundred  journals  and  periodicals 
relating  to  these  subjects,  which  are  taken  in  regularly  and 
filed.  In  connection  with  this  section  there  is  an  extensive 
series  of  foreign  directories,  trade  catalogues  and  address- 
books  of  other  countries. 

The  above  three  departments  are  open  free  to  the  public. 

4.  Mechanical  and  Technical  Division  — 

(l)  The  office  for  specialized  trade  information  — 
(a)  Patents,  merchandise    marks,    and   trade- 
marks.   Here  patents  can  be  secured  and 
trademarks  registered. 

(6)  For  furnishing  information  on  all  kinds  of 
motors,  machines,  tools,  raw  products,  and 
manufactured  goods. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATION  125 

(c)  For  supplying  literary  advice  and  references, 
from  technical  works  and  replies  to  general 
technical  questions. 

(2)  The  experimental  research  department  arranged 
for  the  trial  and  testing  of  gas,  benzine,  and 
petroleum  motors,  steam  engines,  water  wheels, 
turbines,  electro-motors  and  all  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery, at  agreed  charges. 

5.  The  chemical  laboratory  for  investigations  of  all 
kinds  relating  to  technical  and  industrial  chemistry.  It  is 
prepared  to  undertake  analyses  and  to  carry  out  more 
extensive  researches  for  fees,  to  be  arranged.    The  official 
testing  station  for  paper  is  in  connection  with  this  branch. 

6.  A  permanent  exhibition  of  modern  industry  and  art. 
There  are  also  held  in  connection  with  this  department 
temporary  exhibitions  of  special  departments  of  manufac- 
tures. 

7.  Issue  of  the  official  organ  of  the  Bavarian  Industrial 
Museum. 

8.  The  delivery  of  public  addresses  and  lectures  during 
the  winter  months,  embracing  all  subjects  of  art  applied 
to  industry  and  every  branch  of  manufacturing  activity. 

An  interesting  feature  in  the  activity  of  this  museum  is 
the  "Gewerbe-Archiv"  or  factory  register,  which  includes 
an  account  of  all  the  more  important  industrial  establish- 
ments in  Bavaria  contributed  by  the  manufacturers  them- 
selves on  a  special  form.  The  particulars  given  are  as  fol- 
lows: The  name  and  address  of  the  firm;  when  founded; 
articles  produced;  whether  special  to  this  undertaking; 
character  of  motive  power  employed;  nature  of  machinery 
used  and  the  number  of  each  kind  of  machine;  patents, 
trademarks,  etc.,  owned  by  the  firm;  exhibitions  in  which 
the  firm  has  taken  part  and  prizes  and  medals  awarded; 
number  of  workpeople  employed  and  annual  value  of  pro- 
duction. Many  thousands  of  manufacturers  have  contrib- 
uted to  this  register.  Every  effort  is  made  to  keep  it  up  to 


126  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

date  and  to  render  it  accurate  and  complete  as  a  record  of 
the  whole  of  the  industries  of  Bavaria. 

Museums  of  this  type,  though,  of  course,  on  a  less  com- 
prehensive scale,  are  numerous  throughout  the  German 
cities.  The  German  people  attach  the  greatest  importance 
to  them  as  an  important  factor  in  the  development  of  trade 
and  industry. 

Many  phases  of  this  question  of  supplementary  educa- 
tion have  been  left  untouched.  It  is  many-sided  and  bristles 
with  problems  and  complications.  These  are  all  capable  of 
solution  if  the  same  acumen,  business  foresight,  and  wise 
management  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them  as  has  been 
displayed  in  the  building-up  of  the  industries.  As  Mr. 
Arthur  D.  Dean  says:  — 

In  considering  a  State  policy  for  providing  industrial  education, 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  constantly  in  mind  one  basic  principle:  If 
industrial  education  means  a  re-directing  and  adapting  of  our 
education  to  fit  the  economic  and  social  needs  of  our  people,  then 
it  is  a  problem  that  has  no  single  solution;  there  will  be  as  many 
school  classifications  as  there  are  groups  of  industries;  nearly  as 
many  solutions  as  there  are  types  of  communities;  and  there  is  no 
single  inflexible  course  of  study  and  no  single  line  of  procedure. 


VII 

APPRENTICESHIP 
"The  King  is  dead!   Long  live  the  King!" 

ONE  of  the  main  arguments  used  to  advance  the  cause 
of  industrial  education  is,  that  the  apprenticeship  system  is 
dead,  and  that  the  trades  and  industries  stand  largely  in 
need  of  a  new  type  of  education  which  will  give  the  skill 
and  all-roundedness  formerly  acquired  through  that  sys- 
tem. It  is  almost  impossible  to  read  an  article  0r  listen  to 
a  speech  on  the  subject  of  industrial  training  without 
finding  this  argument  prominent. 

There  is  danger  that  the  energetic  propaganda  now 
being  waged  for  industrial  education  in  schools,  will  cause 
the  educational  features  of  a  rational  apprenticeship 
system  to  be  ignored  and  lost  sight  of.  If  industrial  edu- 
cation had  no  other  claim  to  national  consideration  than 
the  supposition  that  apprenticeship  is  dead,  its  position 
would  not  be  a  very  sound  one.  Fortunately  there  are  a 
number  of  more  vital  arguments,  and  it  scarcely  needs  the 
support  of  one  which  is  true  only  to  a  slight  extent. 

When  it  is  stated  that  apprenticeship  is  dead,  the  con- 
ception that  is  formed  is  that  of  the  system  as  it  grew  up 
and  flourished  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  trade  guilds 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  There  would  be  as  much  reason  in 
saying  that  the  science  of  illumination  is  dead  because  our 
modern  system  of  electric  lighting  bears  little  relationship 
to  the  rushlight  of  one  or  two  centuries  ago,  or  that  steam 
transportation  is  dead  because  the  modern  locomotive  can 
scarcely  be  recognized  when  compared  with  the  first 
engine  invented,  as  there  is  in  saying  that  apprenticeship 
is  dead  because  the  present  type,  rendered  necessary  by 


128  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

the  development  of  modern  industry  and  the  subdivision 
of  labor,  bears  no  resemblance  to  that  in  use  when  pro- 
duction was  carried  on  under  entirely  different  conditions. 

Whatever  defects  the  old  system  had,  and  they  are 
readily  admitted,  the  merit  must  be  accorded  to  it  of  hav- 
ing produced  a  race  of  mechanics  and  artisans  possessing 
the  highest  type  of  skill.  Dr.  Snedden,  Commissioner  of 
Education  for  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  has  said:  "The 
apprenticeship  system,  as  interpreted  by  some  of  the  great 
vocations  of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  undoubtedly  the  most 
perfect  system  of  vocational  education  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen." 

Long  after  the  guilds  had  outlived  their  usefulness,  and 
their  functions  had  become  unnecessary  or  had  been  ab- 
sorbed by  other  agencies,  the  apprenticeship  system  con- 
tinued, but  in  a  condition  practically  shorn  of  all  that  had 
made  it  effective.  The  English  guilds  have  disappeared, 
but  in  ^Continental  countries,  notably  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria, persistent  efforts  are  being  made  to  revive  their 
powers  and  restore  their  usefulness. 

Membership  of  a  guild  was  always  an  absolute  guaranty 
of  thorough  craftsmanship,  which  everybody  recognized. 
It  has  seemed  to  me  that  here  is  one  of  the  lost  opportuni- 
ties of  trade-unionism.  If  the  possession  of  a  union  card 
were  regarded  as  incontrovertible  evidence  that  its  owner 
had  learned  his  trade  in  a  recognized  manner  and  had  not 
stolen  it,  and  that  he  was  a  skilled  craftsman,  much  good 
would  result  to  the  industry,  and  a  great  deal  of  unfounded 
prejudice  against  unions  would  be  removed. 

At  present,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  there  is  no 
adequate  test  of  a  man's  ability  before  his  admission  to  the 
union.  Of  course,  under  present  conditions,  if  this  plan  were 
adopted,  the  unions  would  not  include  the  majority  of  the 
workers,  but  grades  could  be  established  and  examinations 
conducted,  on  the  passing  of  which  men  would  rise  from  one 
grade  to  the  next  higher.  The  wages  of  men  in  the  different 


APPRENTICESHIP  129 

grades  would  vary,  and  it  would  be  necessary,  from  the 
union  point  of  view,  to  make  and  enforce  regulations  con- 
cerning the  number  of  men  in  each  grade  allowed  to  each 
employer,  in  order  that  there  should  not  be  a  preponder- 
ance of  low-paid  labor.  The  unions  should  make  a  study  of 
the  powers  and  functions  of  the  ancient  guilds  and  seek  to 
absorb  the  best  of  them. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  powers  of  the  revived  modern 
guilds  in  Europe,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  apprentice- 
ship system,  let  us  take  the  methods  adopted  in  Austria. 
The  laws  of  1883  and  1897  made  efforts  to  bring  these 
methods  into  harmony  with  modern  industrial  conditions. 
The  provisions  of  these  laws  are  still  in  force,  and  what  is 
more,  are  in  operation.  By  law  the  duties  of  these  guilds 
are  said  to  be :  — 

1.  To  promote  harmonious  relations  between  employers 
and  workmen  in  regard  to  the  organization  of  the  labor 
forces,  the  provision  of  guild  shelters  or  lodges  (for  travel- 
ing workmen),  and  finding  employment  for  those  out  of 
work. 

2.  To  provide  for  a  satisfactory  apprenticeship  system, 
provide  regulations  regarding  the  industrial  and  moral  in- 
struction of  apprentices,  length  of  service,  examinations,  etc. 

3.  To  create  arbitration  committees  for  the  settlement 
of  disputes. 

4.  To  promote  the  establishment  of,  and  themselves  to 
establish  andj  maintain,  trade  schools. 

5.  To  care  for  sick  employees  and  apprentices. 

6.  To  make  an  annual  report  of  the  work  done. 

The  regulations  drawn  up  for  apprentices  impose  upon 
the  employer  the  duty  of  looking  after  the  morals  of  the 
apprentice  both  inside  and  outside  the  shop  or  factory,  and 
thus  one  of  the  most  desirable  features  of  the  old  system 
is  being  restored.  He  is  also  required  to  allow  apprentices, 
who  are  not  free  from  the  obligation  to  attend  an  industrial 
continuation  school,  the  necessary  time  for  that  attendance, 


130  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

and  is  made  legally  responsible  for  it.  In  Germany  much 
the  same  method  is  being  adopted  and  the  same  class  of 
legislation  has  been  enacted.  In  Europe,  then,  the  system 
of  apprenticeship  is  regarded  as  a  factor  in  industrial  edu- 
cation and  as  a  matter  worthy  of  Government  regulation. 

The  old  system,  however,  possessed  many  undesirable 
features.  It  was  uneconomic.  The  service  required  was 
too  long,  and  in  the  latter  years  of  that  service,  though 
doing  the  work  of  a  journeyman,  the  youth  received  the  pay 
of  an  apprentice.  Looked  at  in  the  light  of  our  modern  sys- 
tem of  production  and  distribution,  it  is  fortunate  for  the 
workers  that  it  has  passed.  It  was  unfortunate  for  work- 
men that  during  its  gradual  decay  nothing  was  devised 
satisfactorily  to  take  its  place  and  that  it  was  allowed  to 
live  a  lingering  death,  in  methods  that  neither  gave  effi- 
cient training  to  the  employee  nor  skilled  workmen  to  the 
employer.  The  term  "apprentice"  was  retained,  but  it 
was  a  misnomer,  and  the  so-called  apprentice  became  in 
reality  a  helper,  a  laborer,  knocked  from  pillar  to  post  and 
receiving  no  adequate  instruction.  The  whole  genius  of 
the  shop  was  against  him. 

The  boy  wishes  to  obtain  all  possible  information  in  the 
shortest  possible  time,  and  he  also  desires  to  get  an  all- 
round  knowledge  of  his  trade;  that  is,  an  opportunity  to 
work  in  every  department  of  the  industry.  The  foreman, 
representing  the  employer,  and  taking  a  narrow  view  of  his 
own  interests,  works  for  economy,  for  cheapness  and  speed 
of  production.  He  thinks  these  ends  can  best  be  achieved 
by  restricting  the  boy  to  one  machine  and  to  one  operation. 
The  boy  wishes  to  push  himself  forward,  and  the  foreman 
only  responds  under  the  greatest  pressure.  The  spirit  of 
the  foreman  rules  the  shop,  and  it  would  not  bode  well  for 
the  journeyman  who,  out  of  his  good  nature  and  sympathy 
with  the  boy's  desires,  enters  on  his  time-card,  "Thirty 
minutes  spent  in  showing  Johnny  Jones  the  how  and  the 
why  of  the  Smith  job." 


APPRENTICESHIP  131 

As  evidence  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  instruction  received 
by  the  apprentice  in  the  machine  shops,  the  principal  of  a 
"technological  school,"  established  by  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company,  said  in  1886:  — 

Investigation  in  the  shops  by  conversation  and  observation  has 
shown  that  many  boys  or  young  men  had  completed,  or  nearly 
completed,  their  apprenticeship  without  being  able  to  tell  the 
difference  between  cast  and  wrought  iron,  without  knowing 
whether  steel  is  a  native  or  manufactured  product,  and  equally 
ignorant  of  many  other  simple  though  important  and  significant 
facts  which  are  intimately  related  to  their  trades. 

The  causes  which  brought  about  the  decline  of  the  old 
apprenticeship  system  are  to  be  sought  for  in  the  social  and 
economic  changes  forced  upon  industry  by  the  extensive 
use  of  machinery.  These  causes  may  be  summarized  as 
follows :  — 

1.  The  growth  of  population  has  rendered  it  profitable 
to  produce  goods  of  all  kinds  on  the  largest  possible  scale. 
This  prevents  any  personal  contact  between  employer  and 
employee.   Apprenticeship  is  only  good  so  long  as  the  ap- 
prentice has  time  to  learn  and  the  employer,  or  some  one 
deputed  by  him  for  this  specific  purpose,  has  time  to  teach. 

2.  The  substitution  of  machine  for  hand  labor,  the  ex- 
tensive use  of  automatic  machinery  for  performing  single 
and  special  operations,  in  which  as  a  rule  no  skill  is  required, 
and  the  subdivision  of  labor  have  all  played  their  part.  It 
seems  to  be  a  fact  that  for  the  great  bulk  of  the  workmen 
in  the  factories,  who  perform  the  purely  mechanical  opera* 
tions,  little  knowledge  beyond  the  process  on  which  each  is 
engaged  is  either  required  for,  or  is  necessary  to,  the  success- 
ful performance  of  the  special  operation.  It  is  scarcely  con- 
sidered necessary  even  that  the  operative  shall  know  any- 
thing about  his  machine,  as  in  a  large  number  of  cases  a 
special  mechanic  is  provided  to  make  all  adjustments. 
Those  who  have  a  wide  knowledge  of  any  industry  are 
generally  those  who  direct  the  work.   To  call  men  shoe- 


132  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

makers  who  make  the  hundredth  part  of  a  shoe,  or  cabinet- 
makers who  can  only  turn  a  table  leg,  is  to  convey  alto- 
gether wrong  impressions.  Indeed,  in  these  days  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  define  any  particular  trade,  and  those  engaged 
therein  find  the  definition  no  easier  than  does  the  outsider. 
As  long  ago  as  1900  the  following  definition  of  a  machinist 
was  adopted  by  resolution  of  the  International  Association 
of  Machinists  and  the  National  Metal  Trades'  Associa- 
tion :  — 

A  machinist  is  a  competent  general  workman,  competent  floor 
hand,  competent  lathe  hand,  competent  vise  hand,  competent 
planer  hand,  competent  shaper  hand,  competent  milling  machine 
hand,  competent  slotting  machine  hand,  competent  die  sinker, 
competent  boring  mill  hand,  competent  toolmaker,  and  compe- 
tent linotype  hand.  To  be  considered  a  competent  hand  in  either 
class  he  (the  machinist)  shall  be  able  to  take  any  piece  of  work  per- 
taining to  his  class,  with  the  drawings  or  blue-prints,  and  prose- 
cute the  work  to  successful  completion  within  a  reasonable  time. 
He  shall  also  have  served  a  regular  apprenticeship  or  have  worked 
at  the  trade  four  years. 

It  is  probable  that  if  this  definition  were  revised  in  the 
light  of  the  industrial  expansion  of  the  past  ten  years,  it 
would  include  a  number  of  additional  divisions. 

In  the  Chicago  packing-houses  the  men  have  been 
graded  in  more  than  thirty  distinct  operations,  and  twenty 
rates  of  pay  established.  An  ordinary  laborer  can  be  effi- 
ciently trained  to  perform  any  one  of  these  operations  in 
three  or  four  days.  In  the  old  days  a  cattle  butcher,  with 
the  assistance  of  one  or  two  helpers,  was  able  to  kill  and 
dress  a  bullock,  and  it  required  from  three  to  five  years  to 
become  proficient.  Now  the  all-round  butcher  is  only 
to  be  found  in  villages  and  very  small  towns,  where  special- 
ization and  the  subdivision  of  labor  have  not  made  such 
inroads  on  old  trade  practices. 

In  carpentry  and  other  forms  of  woodwork  the  introduc- 
tion of  machinery  has  brought  about  remarkable  changes. 
Only  the  old  house  carpenter  and  men  who  have  learned 


APPRENTICESHIP  133 

their  trade  in  the  villages,  smaller  towns,  and  in  Europe 
can  now  make  doors,  shutters,  sashes,  or  frames  with  any 
degree  of  dexterity,  finish,  or  accuracy.  That  work  has 
gone  to  the  planing  mill,  and  the  work  of  the  carpen- 
ter generally  consists  in  fitting  its  products  together.  It 
is  even  possible  to  buy  a  whole  house  at  the  mill,  with  all 
the  parts  marked  and  numbered  ready  for  fitting.  It  is  a 
waste  of  effort  to  fight  against  this  minute  subdivision, 
which  must  be  regarded  as  inevitable,  though  highly  un- 
desirable from  the  point  of  view  of  the  all-round  develop- 
ment of  the  worker.  The  industry  gams  and  the  worker 
suffers.  Ruskin  says:  — 

It  is  not,  truly  speaking,  the  labor  which  is  divided  but  the 
man  —  divided  into  mere  segments  of  men  —  broken  into  small 
fragments  and  crumbs  of  life,  so  that  all  the  little  piece  of  intelli- 
gence that  is  left  in  a  man  is  not  enough  to  make  a  pin  or  a  nail, 
but  exhausts  itself  in  making  the  point  of  a  pin  or  the  head  of  a 
nail. 

3.  Many  employers  do  not  want  apprentices.  Others 
say  that  they  cannot  get  them.  Others,  again,  complain 
bitterly  that  their  numbers  are  restricted  by  the  unions. 
Manufacturers  have  probably  themselves  largely  to  blame 
for  this  limitation,  owing  to  their  failure  to  teach  the  ap- 
prentice his  trade,  and  their  practice  of  using  untrained 
labor  where  possible  to  avoid  the  employment  of  journey- 
men, but  it  is  very  much  open  to  question  whether  there 
are  even  as  many  apprentices  as  the  rules  of  the  unions 
allow.  The  journeymen  tailors'  union  permits  each  journey- 
man to  have  one  apprentice,  yet  the  returns  in  1903  show 
that  there  were  only  625  apprentices  reported,  while  the 
membership  of  the  union  was  about  14,500,  and  investiga- 
tion shows  that  there  are  but  few  apprentices  in  the  tailor- 
ing trades  to-day. 

The  right  of  the  unions  to  make  these  regulations  can- 
not logically  be  denied.  They  have  just  as  much  right  to 
be  seriously  interested  in  the  question  of  entrance  into 


134  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

their  trades  as  the  doctor,  lawyer,  or  minister  has  to  make 
regulations  and  to  inquire  into  the  qualifications  of  those 
entering  the  professions  to  which  they  belong.  Not  much 
objection  is  raised  to  making  the  professions  close  cor- 
porations, but  directly  the  same  process  is  applied  to  the 
industries  an  alarming  outcry  is  made.  Those  manufac- 
turers who  object  to  taking  apprentices  do  so  largely  on 
the  ground  that  they  do  not  pay,  but  they  have  probably 
formed  this  opinion  on  insufficient  evidence  and  badly 
organized  trials  of  the  system.  No  instances  are  known 
where  a  properly  organized  system  of  apprenticeship,  care- 
fully designed  to  train  the  worker,  has  been  established  and 
has  failed  to  pay  in  every  sense.  Mr.  E.  P.  Bullard,  of  the 
Bullard  Tool  Machine  Company,  distinctly  states  that 
apprentice  training  pays  "morally,  ethically,  and  finan- 
cially in  every  way." 

The  "Printing  Trade  News,"  New  York,  says:  — 

The  matter  of  efficiency  is  a  devious  one  and  the  economic  con- 
duct of  a  printing  establishment  is  arrived  at  in  various  ways. 
Take  the  case  of  the  Donnelley  Company,  of  Chicago.  This  com- 
pany incurs  an  annual  expense  of  $10,000  in  the  maintenance  of 
its  school  for  apprentices.  And  yet  in  the  increased  efficiency 
of  workers  thus  obtained,  and  the  consequent  efficiency  of  the 
plant,  this  apparently  altruistic  scheme  pays. 

Mr.  Charles  Booth,  in  his  "Life  and  Labor  in  London," 
speaking  of  London  employers,  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  rank  and  file  of  them  find  that  it  pays  best  to 
trust  to  being  able  to  obtain  skilled  workmen  who  have 
been  trained  by  some  one  else;  in  other  words,  to  shirk 
their  share  of  the  common  burden  —  a  form  of  economic 
parasitism.  He  concludes  that  practically  the  whole  of 
the  London  employers  in  several  trades  are  parasitical 
upon  the  provincial  employers,  as  regards  the  work  of  in- 
dustrial training.  This  is  probably  just  as  true  of  the  large 
American  cities.  Foreman  after  foreman,  when  asked 
where  he  gets  his  skilled  workmen,  will  say,  "Oh,  they 


APPRENTICESHIP  135 

come  to  us,"  not  mentioning  any  special  inducements 
offered  to  encourage  the  coming. 

Another  objection  of  the  employer,  which,  perhaps,  has  a 
sounder  basis,  is  the  fact  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  boys  to 
stay.  In  the  glass  bottle  industry,  where  the  indenture 
system  largely  prevails,  union  employers  frequently  com- 
plain that  apprentices  do  not  serve  the  five  years'  term, 
but  run  away  and  seek  employment  in  non-union  shops. 
The  same  complaint  is  made  in  other  industries.  In  this  as 
in  many  other  walks  of  life  there  is  needed  an  entirely  new 
sense  of  the  sacredness  of  a  contract,  wisely  and  voluntarily 
entered  into.  No  employer  in  these  days  would  think  of 
prosecuting  a  refractory  apprentice  for  breach  of  contract, 
as  an  unwilling  apprentice  would  be  a  constant  source  of 
economic  loss  and  a  perpetual  source  of  annoyance.  There 
is  no  law  which  will  permit  the  binding  out  of  a  boy  and 
compel  him  to  remain  at  the  work  to  which  he  is  assigned. 
There  should  be  a  public  opinion  in  the  shops  which  would 
render  it  impossible  for  an  apprentice,  who  was  receiving  a 
square  deal  from  his  employer,  to  leave  his  employ  and  be 
comfortable  in  any  other  position  while  his  contract  was 
still  unfulfilled. 

4.  Journeymen  have  no  desire  to  instruct  apprentices. 
They  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  inclination.  Generally 
the  apprentice  is  unknown  to  the  man  under  whom  he  is 
placed,  and  is  too  frequently  looked  upon  as  an  interloper 
who,  when  he  has  become  proficient,  will  take  the  place  of 
the  man  who  has  instructed  him.  However,  in  the  present 
condition  of  things  there  is  little  need  of  any  help,  even  of 
that  which  the  journeyman  may  give.  The  tendency  is  to 
turn  the  apprentice  into  a  "specialist,"  that  is,  to  restrict 
him  to  the  working  of  a  single  machine  which  performs  one 
operation,  or  turns  out  one  special  part  of  the  finished 
product. 

There  is  a  marked  difference  between  the  professional 
specialist  and  the  industrial  specialist.  The  professional 


136  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

specialist  has  been  thoroughly  well  grounded  in  all  the 
underlying  principles  of  his  profession  and  out  of  the  depths 
of  his  knowledge  selects  his  specialty.  The  mechanic  or 
artisan,  on  the  other  hand,  is  all  too  frequently  a  specialist 
because  he  can  do  nothing  else,  and  remains  a  specialist  on 
account  of  his  ignorance. 

5.  The  boy  is  disinclined  to  bind  himself.  Freedom  is 
the  watchword  of  the  age.  Mobility  has  always  been  one 
of  labor's  chief  assets,  and  the  boy  is  no   less  anxious 
than  the  man  to  be  free  to  move  as  his  whim  and  fancy 
dictate.  The  modern  boy  dislikes  to  be  controlled,  and  in 
the  present  prosperous  state  of  the  country  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  "  throw  up  his  job  "  rather  than  carry  out  an  unpleas- 
ant task.  The  terms  "bound"  or  "serving"  are  thought  to 
be  highly  objectionable,  and  the  old-fashioned  "master" 
and  "man"  have  been  euphemistically  transformed  into 
"employer"  and  "employee."  Lack  of  wise  parental  con- 
trol has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  bringing  about  this 
state  of  affairs.  The  old  maxim  that  "the  child  should  be 
seen  and  not  heard"  is  entirely  out  of  date. 

6.  The  length  of  time  previously  thought  to  be  necessary 
for  the  learning  of  a  trade  has  also  done  its  share  in  bring- 
ing about  the  decline  of  apprenticeship.  In  many  indus- 
tries the  interests  of  the  employer  have  been  mainly  con- 
sidered, and  the  low  wages  paid  to  the  apprentice  during 
his  latter  years  have  not  reconciled  him  to  the  service.  In 
most  cases  the  practice  prevails  of  paying  the  apprentice  a 
fractional  part  of  the  journeyman's  wages  even  where  the 
work  turned  out  is  of  the  same  quality,  and  boys  naturally 
resent  this.  The  age  at  which  boys  enter  industry  is  much 
higher  than  formerly,  but  notwithstanding  this  increase  in 
age,  wages  have  remained  stationary  or  nearly  so.  Both 
the  employers  and  the  unions  have  been  responsible  for 
the  excessive  length  of  apprenticeship.    The  former  desired 
to  obtain  cheap  labor  and  the  latter  to  prevent  their  ranks 
from  becoming  overcrowded. 


APPRENTICESHIP  137 

7.  There  is  a  widespread  impression  that  a  trade  can 
be  learned  without  apprenticeship,  and  indeed  in  these 
days  it  does  seem  possible  to  learn  a  trade  by  the  system  of 
casual  labor.  In  an  investigation  of  124  cases  in  London, 
it  was  found  that  in  the  building  trades  55  had  been 
regularly  apprenticed,  27  had  been  trained  by  their  fath- 
ers, and  36  had  picked  it  up,  or  as  the  labor  phrase  has  it, 
had  "stolen "it. 

This  process  of  "stealing  a  trade"  is  a  great  economic 
loss  to  the  employer  and  to  the  industry  and  is  a  still 
greater  loss  to  organized  labor  itself.  The  plan  is  some- 
what as  follows.  A  boy  or  man  starts  work  on  a  certain 
machine  or  process  and  in  a  short  time  demonstrates  his 
incapacity.  After  spoiling  a  quantity  of  work  and  disor- 
ganizing the  factory,  he  is  indignantly  "fired"  by  the 
foreman.  He  is  now  in  possession  of  a  small  modicum  of 
experience,  and  with  this  as  a  basis  gets  another  "job  "  and 
repeats 'the  same  process,  but  in  this  case  the  period  of  his 
employment  on  the  one  machine  or  operation  is  somewhat 
longer,  but  his  dismissal  eventually  follows.  By  going 
through  this  procedure  several  times  he  at  length  reaches 
the  stage  where  he  can  retain  his  position  as  long  as  he 
requires  it. 

In  newer  countries  like  America,  where  the  demand  for 
workers  is  so  great,  the  proportion  of  men  who  thus  "pick 
up"  their  trades  is  much  higher  than  in  England  or  Conti- 
nental Europe.  This  state  of  affairs  exists  very  largely  in 
the  building  trades,  many  carpenters,  bricklayers,  and 
plumbers  never  having  been  thoroughly  trained.  Out  of 
fifty  men  employed  on  one  building  as  carpenters,  there 
was  only  one  who  could  lay  out  a  staircase. 

An  editorial  in  the  official  journal  of  the  plumbers  com- 
plains :  — 

There  will  always  be  cities  or  towns  enough  that  are  unorgan- 
ized that  will  turn  out  helpers  and  apprentices  in  numbers  large 
enough  to  supply  the  demand.  .  .  .  The  scab  shop  and  non- 


138  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

association  employers  will  also  continue  to  manufacture  plumbers 
at  a  compound  rate.  .  .  .  The  journeyman  is  also  responsible  to  a 
great  extent  for  this  condition  of  affairs,  because  in  years  past, 
when  plumbing  was  considered  more  of  an  art  than  it  is  to-day, 
and  the  wages  were  comparatively  higher,  the  journeyman,  to 
use  the  language  of  the  street,  "got  the  swelled  head  "  and  thought 
he  must  have  a  boy  to  carry  his  overalls  around,  and  to  shine  his 
tools  for  him,  and  walk  on  the  other  side  of  the  street  with  his  tool- 
bag,  lest  society  should  see  him  with  a  dirty  carpet-sack  on  his 
shoulder. 

This  system  of  picking  up  a  trade  has  a  decided  influence 
upon  the  moral  fibre  and  citizenship  of  the  workman.  A 
man  who  has  been  thoroughly  trained  along  any  distinct 
line,  and  has  achieved,  through  that  training,  an  intelli- 
gent technical  skill,  looks  upon  his  trade  as  something  wor- 
thy of  his  utmost  efforts  and  he  does  his  best  work,  hindered, 
of  course,  by  the  commercial  necessity  for  speed.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  man  who  has  stolen  his  trade  will  regard  it 
as  simply  the  tool,  often  despised,  by  which  he  obtains  his 
living,  and  inferiority  of  workmanship  will  be  perfectly 
satisfactory  to  him  so  long  as  it  passes  muster. 

There  are  some  trades  in  which  a  system  of  apprentice- 
ship cannot  be  satisfactorily  carried  out.  They  are  those 
where,  by  the  division  of  labor  and  the  use  of  machinery,  the 
functions  of  the  workman  have  been  pared  down  to  pro- 
cesses which  are  so  easily  learned  that  any  prolonged  period 
of  training  is  not  only  unnecessary  but  economically  waste- 
ful. In  the  textile  trades  modern  automatic  looms  for  weav- 
ing are  so  easily  managed  that  a  case  is  known  where  a  girl, 
without  any  previous  experience,  learned  to  run  fourteen 
looms  within  a  week,  and  in  many  other  industries  the 
average  rate  of  wages  can  be  earned  after  two  or  three 
weeks'  training.  President  Gompers  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  says,  "Modern  methods  of  manufac- 
ture, with  their  division,  subdivision,  and  specialization, 
have  to  a  large  extent  rendered  nearly  superfluous  and 
therefore  largely  eliminated  the  all-round  skilled  workman/* 


APPRENTICESHIP  139 

If  this  is  true,  or  only  partially  true,  is  the  education  of 
the  workman  to  be  abandoned?  There  are  two  sides  to  the 
education  of  any  man,  —  education  for  his  work  and  edu- 
cation for  his  leisure,  education  for  his  living  and  education 
for  his  pleasure;  and  for  the  unskilled  man  whom  economic 
necessity  confines  to  the  performance  of  one  operation,  the 
latter  side  of  education  will  have  to  be  stressed.  Closer 
investigation  will  probably  show  that  there  is  a  type  of 
instruction  which  will  add  to  the  earning  capacity  of  even 
this  man,  by  increasing  both  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
his  output.  Information  regarding  the  construction  and 
intricacies  of  his  machine  and  its  adjustment  for  minor 
defects,  some  knowledge  of  the  material  in  which  he  is 
working,  some  information  regarding  the  operation  he  is 
performing  and  the  part  it  is  to  play  in  the  completed 
object,  will  broaden  his  outlook  and  probably  induce 
him  to  equip  himself  for  the  next  higher  stage  in  the 
factory. 

"While  this  all-round  skill  is  ceasing  to  be  of  especial 
benefit  to  the  ordinary  workman,  on  the  other  hand,  econ- 
omic interdependence  is  becoming  greater,  the  relationship 
of  process  to  process  and  man  to  man  is  growing  more  com- 
plex, and  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  important  for  every 
man  to  know  many  things  in  order  to  keep  his  activities  in 
efficient  social  and  vocational  cooperation  with  those  of 
others  in  different  walks  of  life." 

Even  for  the  industrial  specialist  there  is  a  system  of 
apprenticeship  coming  into  vogue.  It  has  been  adopted 
by  the  National  Association  of  Machine  Tool  Builders,  and 
it  assures  that  specialists  will  not  only  continue,  but  also 
that  the  system  will  be  considerably  extended.  If  a  large 
majority  of  the  workmen  are  to  be  specialists,  and  about 
this,  judging  by  the  modern  trend,  there  cannot  be  much 
doubt,  then  the  apprenticeship  system  should  recognize 
this  condition.  Accordingly,  in  the  "Special  Apprentice- 
ship System,"  the  period  of  training  varies  from  one  to  two 


140  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

years,  and  is  immediately  profitable  both  for  employer  and 
employee.  There  is  a  trial  period  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
hours,  and  after  successfully  passing  this,  an  engagement 
is  given  in  one  of  eleven  different  departments,  turning, 
vertical  boring  mill,  horizontal  boring  mill,  planing,  milling, 
drilling,  grinding,  erecting,  turret,  vise,  scraping.  Not  less 
than  twelve  cents  an  hour  is  paid  from  the  commencement, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  twenty  cents  an  hour  can 
be  earned.  At  the  end  of  a  year's  service  the  apprentice  can 
earn  more  than  is  paid  under  the  ordinary  scheme  after 
four  years'  service. 

If,  as  is  now  generally  conceded  by  all  industrial  authori- 
ties, apprenticeship  is  necessary,  let  us  next  inquire  what,  in 
the  light  of  modern  industry,  are  the  features  that  should 
be  found  in  an  efficiently  organized  system.  These  features 
appear  to  be :  — 

1.  Apprentices  should  be  carefully  selected.  It  is  no 
kindness  to  train  a  boy  for  an  industry  for  which  he  has 
neither  fitness  nor  liking.  This  selection  should  be  gov- 
erned by  both  physical  and  mental  considerations.  The 
general  practice  is  to  take  boys  not  younger  than  sixteen, 
though  some  manufacturers  are  now  adopting  fifteen  as 
the  age  of  entry  into  their  works.  The  age  of  sixteen  seems 
to  have  been  fixed  owing  to  the  idea  that  before  that  age 
boys  are  not  physically  capable.  If  after  a  careful  medical 
inspection  boys  were  allowed  to  enter  the  trades  at  fourteen 
years  of  age  under  proper  conditions  and  with  a  legal  pro- 
viso regarding  further  education,  our  problem  would  be 
greatly  simplified.  The  fact  that  a  boy  has  reached  sixteen 
years  of  age  is  no  guaranty  that  he  is  either  physically  or 
mentally  fit  to  enter  practical  industry.  In  addition  to  this 
physical  fitness,  boys  should  have  passed  through  the  eight 
grades  of  the  elementary  schools.  It  is  probably  true  that 
if  the  industries  were  recruited  solely  from  those  who  were 
eminently  fitted,  they  would  soon  be  depleted,  yet  means 
should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  entry  into  any  particular 


APPRENTICESHIP  141 

industry  of  those  who  are  manifestly  unfit.  Even  with  the 
most  careful  selection  it  will  not  infrequently  happen  that 
as  the  apprenticeship  proceeds  some  boys  will  be  found 
who  do  not  like,  or  are  not  suited  for,  the  particular  trade. 
If  this  is  founded  on  reason  and  not  inspired  by  a  mere 
desire  for  change,  an  opportunity  should  be  afforded  the 
young  apprentice  to  enter  another  trade  before  it  is  too 
late.  To  prevent  these  misfits,  a  probationary  period  of 
sufficient  length  is  generally  advisable. 

2.  The  apprentice  himself  should  be  anxious  to  learn  the 
trade  and  his  parents  should  be  willing  for  him  to  do  so. 
No  boy  should  be  taken  into  a  trade  in  deference  to  the 
wishes  of  his  parents,  if  those  wishes  are  in  opposition  to 
his  own;  and  while  it  is  necessary  and  desirable  in  most 
cases  to  secure  the  active  and  hearty  cooperation  of  the 
parents,  instances  have   been   known  where   boys  have 
"made  good"  in  an  industry  strongly  objected  to  by  the 
parents.  Forcing  a  boy  into  a  trade  he  is  unwilling  to  learn, 
is  good  neither  for  him  nor  the  industry. 

3.  The  wages  paid  must  be  such  as  are  mutually  satis- 
factory to  all  parties  to  the  agreement,  and  the  increases 
sufficiently  large  and  frequent  to  make  the  apprentice  feel 
that  his  growing  skill  and  knowledge  are  recognized  in  his 
pay  envelope.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  matters  relating 
to  employer  and  employee,  more  mutual  trust  and  confi- 
dence is  required.  On  the  one  hand,  the  apprentice  must 
not  be  exploited  for  undue  profit,  and  on  the  other,  the 
apprentice  must  recognize  that  he  owes  it  to  his  employer 
to  give  the  greatest  possible  return  for  the  efforts  ex- 
pended in  his  training.   Some  firms  have  a  system  of  giv- 
ing a  substantial  bonus  on  the  successful  completion  of  the 
apprenticeship.  If  this  bonus  were  graduated  according  to 
a  specified  scale  based  on  the  manner  in  which  the  contract 
was  fulfilled,  it  would  probably  have  an  effect  on  the  behav- 
ior of  the  apprentice  and  the  character  of  the  work  done. 
Such  bonuses  are  given  by  the  General  Electric  Company, 


142  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Lynn,  Massachusetts  ($100),  and  the  Allis  Chalmers  Com- 
pany, Cincinnati  ($100).  Many  English  firms  adopt  the 
same  plan. 

4.  Adequate  instruction  must  be  given  to  the  appren- 
tice along  every  line,  academic,  theoretical  industrial,  and 
practical  industrial.  The  greater  part,  if  not  all,  of  this 
academic  instruction  ought  to  be  given  during  working 
hours,  the  apprentice  receiving  the  same  rate  of  pay  as 
though  he  were  actually  working  in  the  shop.  All  instruc- 
tion of  apprentices  is  best  given  by  men  especially  appointed 
for  the  purpose  and  relieved  of  all  other  duty,  and  not  left 
to  foremen  or  journeymen,  who  have  too  much  on  their 
hands  to  perform  these  other  and  extraneous  duties  satis- 
factorily.   At  the  end  of   each  year's  apprenticeship  an 
examination  on  the  work  of  the  year  would  be  a  test  of 
progress.  No  apprentice  should  receive  an  increase  in  sal- 
ary or  make  any  progression  in  the  shop  without  success- 
fully passing  this  examination  and  presenting  a  certificate 
signed  by  the  foreman  testifying  to  a  satisfactory  year's 
record.    The    committee    conducting    this    examination 
might  with  advantage  contain  representatives  of  the  em- 
ployees, in  order  that,  in  the  case  of  failure  of  any  candi- 
date, no  grounds  could  be  given  for  accusations  of  unfair 
treatment.  If  the  academic  training  is  placed  on  the  same 
footing  as  the  actual  shop  work,  the  young  apprentice  will 
regard  it  as  of  equal  value  and  be  much  more  liable  to  make 
progress.  With  regard  to  this  academic  work  different 
firms  have  different  methods.  The  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, for  instance,  teach  from  theory  to  practice,  while  the 
New  York  Central  lines  in  their  schools  for  apprentices 
proceed  from  practice  to  theory. 

5.  The  period  of  apprenticeship  should  be  just  long 
enough,  and  no  longer  than  is  actually  necessary,  to  accom- 
plish the  end  desired  —  which  is  to  make  an  efficient  work- 
man, and  to  implant  the  desire  to  achieve  distinction  in  the 
chosen  trade.  Industrial  life  is  too  swift  and  the  changes 


APPRENTICESHIP  143 

in  conditions  too  rapid  to  allow  of  seven  long  years  being 
spent  in  learning  a  trade  that  under  proper  conditions 
and  systematic  organization  could  be  learned  in  three  or 
four. 

6.  Provision  should  be  made  for  regular  progress  through 
the  shop  in  order  that  the  apprentice  may  have  experience 
on  many  kinds  of  work  and  on  different  types  of  machines. 
The  time  for  specialization  comes  after  this  process  has 
been  gone  through,  as  then  the  apprentice  will  have  know- 
ledge and  ability  to  choose  his  specialty  and  not  have  it 
forced  upon  him.    The  status  of  the  apprentice  must  be 
kept  as  high  as  possible,  and  the  practice  of  running  errands, 
carrying  material  to  and  from  a  job,  and  other  minor  tasks 
which  have  no  distinct  bearing  on  the  trade  being  learned, 
should  not  be  allowed  beyond  what  is  reasonably  necessary. 
A  comparatively  new  group  of  mechanics  —  the  electrical 
workers  —  have  very  unwisely  defined  an  apprentice  as 
one  "who  is  employed  to  do  errands,  carry  material  to  or 
from  the  job,  attend  to  lockers,  and  assist  journeymen  in 
testing."   An  individual  so  employed  is  not  an  apprentice, 
but  a  "helper  "  or  laborer.   The  artisan  himself  is  the  one 
who  reaps  the  greatest  benefit  from  apprenticeship.  He  is 
able  to  work  in  all  branches  of  the  industry  and  thus  to  at- 
tain that  industrial  elasticity  or  adaptability  which  renders 
him  less  liable  to  be  disturbed  by  internal  changes  and  de- 
velopments in  the  industries.    He  is  not  dependent  on  a 
single  machine  or  process,  and  his  whole  outlook  on  life 
assumes  a  different  character. 

7.  Apprenticeship  is  important  enough  to  warrant  its 
being  made  a  matter  of  governmental  regulation.  One  out- 
standing feature  of  the  systems  of  industrial  education  in 
Europe  is  the  protection  offered  to  the  apprentice  by  Gov- 
ernment ordinance. 

In  Germany  only  those  persons  have  the  right  to  direct 
apprentices  who  are  at  least  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and 
have  themselves  completed  the  term  of  apprenticeship,  or 


144  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

have  exercised  their  trade  without  interruption  for  at  least 
five  years  either  as  masters,  foremen,  or  in  some  similar 
capacity.  The  superior  administrative  authority  can  ac- 
cord this  right  to  persons  not  fulfilling  these  conditions,  but 
before  doing  so  it  must  take  the  advice  of  the  guild  to  which 
the  applicant  belongs. 

In  England,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  it  was  in  general 
required  that  any  person  exercising  a  trade  should  have 
previously  served  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years,  but  by 
later  statutes  this  provision  was  abolished. 

In  Switzerland,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the 
employers,  a  general  apprentice  law  was  passed  on  a  refer- 
endum vote  in  1906  by  a  decisive  vote  of  the  whole  of  the 
republic.  This  law  is  subject  to  adoption  by  each  canton, 
and  nearly  half  of  these  have  availed  themselves  of  its  pro- 
visions. By  this  law  any  employer  who  teaches  a  trade,  or 
accepts  boys  or  girls  as  apprentices,  must  allow  at  least 
four  hours  a  week  during  the  daytime  for  attendance  at  an 
industrial  school.  The  apprentice  must  have  completed 
the  elementary  school  course  and  be  at  least  fourteen  years 
of  age.  For  admission  to  a  mercantile  business  the  mini- 
mum age  is  fifteen.  The  contract  entered  into,  stipulates 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  employer  to  look  after  the  bodily 
and  mental  welfare  of  the  apprentice,  who  must  have  ten 
hours'  continuous  rest.  No  overtime  is  allowed  until  six- 
teen years  of  age.  At  the  end  of  his  term  the  apprentice 
must  pass  an  examination  conducted  by  a  Government 
appointed  board.  In  case  of  failure  he  may  present  himself 
again  after  a  period  of  six  months.  The  enforcement  of 
these  provisions  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Minister  of  Commerce 
and  Industry. 

The  State  of  Wisconsin  has  a  workmen's  compensation 
act,  one  of  the  provisions  of  which  deals  with  apprentices. 
Any  agreement  must  be  in  writing  and  the  State  Industrial 
Commission  furnished  with  a  copy.  It  must  be  agreed 
between  the  parties  that  the  whole  trade  be  taught,  the 


APPRENTICESHIP  145 

time  on  each  machine  or  process  being  specified  in  the 
agreement.  The  working  time  must  not  be  more  than  fifty- 
five  hours  per  week,  five  of  which  are  to  be  given  to  instruc- 
tion. The  indentures  are  to  be  at  least  for  a  year,  and  for 
those  under  eighteen  not  less  than  two  years.  It  is  the 
object  of  the  new  law  to  remedy  the  complaint  that  appren- 
tices leave  before  thoroughly  competent,  in  order  to  get 
higher  wages,  and  also  the  contention  that  boys  are  kept  at 
special  work  and  processes  instead  of  being  given  general 
instruction. 

The  principle  of  Government  intervention  in  labor  con- 
cerns is  becoming  more  and  more  common.  So  far  the  ques- 
tion of  wages  has  been  generally  left  to  the  law  of  demand 
and  supply,  but  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment found  it  necessary  to  settle  the  great  coal  strike 
(1912)  by  fixing  a  minimum  wage. 

Strangely  enough,  the  Spanish  Government  is  engaged 
in  a  similar  task.  The  owners  of  the  Spanish  mines  refused 
to  grant  a  fifteen  per  cent  increase  of  wages.  The  Govern- 
ment, therefore,  decided  to  prohibit  temporarily  the  expor- 
tation of  coal,  to  suppress  the  usual  duties  on  foreign  coal, 
to  fix  a  minimum  price  to  be  charged,  and  to  pass  a  bill 
making  regulations  for  miners  and  establishing  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  minimum  wage. 

The  Governments  of  the  various  Australian  States  have 
taken  upon  themselves  (by  wage  boards  composed  of  an 
equal  number  of  employers  and  employees  approved  by 
Parliament)  the  task  of  fixing  wages  and  hours  of  labor, 
and  strikes  and  lockouts  are  absolutely  forbidden  in  the 
Commonwealth.  Any  person  or  organization  responsible 
for  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  strike  or  lockout  is  liable  to 
a  penalty  of  $5000  under  the  Federal  Act. 

8.  Some  attempt  must  be  made  to  control  or  direct  the 
apprentice  out  of  working  hours.  Intensified  production 
and  the  gradual  adoption  of  the  eight-hour  day  will  give 
more  time  for  leisure,  and  if  this  be  not  rightfully  spent 


146  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

economic  loss  will  result  from  the  apprentice  not  being  in 
a  fit  condition  to  perform  his  shop  work  satisfactorily. 
There  is  also  moral  danger  through  visiting  questionable 
resorts  and  engaging  in  doubtful  amusements.  It  has 
already  been  pointed  out  that  this  moral  direction  of  the 
apprentice  was  one  of  the  features  of  the  ancient  guilds. 
He  lived  in  his  master's  house,  attended  his  master's  church, 
and  was  altogether  under  his  control.  The  whole  result  was 
that  he  became  a  better  man,  and  the  better  the  man  the 
better  the  craftsman.  Under  this  system  the  apprentice 
was  a  power  in  the  land,  and  in  the  manifestations  of  that 
power  not  always  amenable  to  the  control  of  his  master. 
When  Oliver  Cromwell  marched  his  army  into  London  to 
dissolve  the  Long  Parliament,  it  was  a  matter  of  concern 
with  him  on  which  side  the  apprentices  would  be  arranged. 
Some  substitute  should  be  found  for  this  moral  control 
previously  exercised  by  the  guilds.  Where  apprenticeship 
systems  have  been  reestablished  and  an  official  appointed 
to  direct  the  training  and  work  of  the  apprentice,  it  is 
generally  assumed  to  be  part  of  his  duty  to  exercise 
general  oversight  out  of  working  hours  as  well  as  in  the 
shop. 

Lest  it  may  be  considered  that  the  features  above  men- 
tioned are  counsels  of  perfection,  it  should  be  pointed  out 
that  almost  all  of  them  are  embodied  in  one  form  or  another 
in  various  systems  that  have  been  established  within  recent 
years. 

In  almost  every  European  country  apprenticeship  is 
being  revived,  and  where  compulsory  attendance  at  con- 
tinuation schools  is  in  force,  the  problem  is  much  simpli- 
fied, as  then  the  employer  has  to  concern  himself  with 
the  shop  instruction  only  and  to  see  that  the  apprentice 
attends  school  as  required. 

In  the  United  States  at  present  there  seems  a  country- 
wide campaign  in  the  interest  of  apprentices.  An  investi- 
gation has  recently  been  carried  out  by  the  Apprenticeship 


APPRENTICESHIP  147 

Committee  of  the  United  Typothetse  of  America.  The  fol- 
lowing questions  were  sent  to  every  member:  — 

1.  Do  you  employ  apprentices?    (Not  errand  boys  —  but  regu- 
lar apprentices  actually  learning  the  trade.) 

2.  How   many   apprentices?     (Composing-room,  platen   press 
department,  cylinder  press  department.) 

3.  How  many  errand  boys  or  other  boys  do  you  employ? 

4.  Are  these  destined  to  become  apprentices? 

5.  Do  you  give  special  attention  to  the  training  of  your  ap- 
prentices? 

6.  If  so,  will  you  please  outline  what  your  method  is? 

7.  What  provision  is  made  for  their  advancement? 

8.  What  rate  of  wages  do  you  pay  —  and  how  often  do  you 
increase  it? 

9.  Are  your  apprentices  indentured? 

10.  If  so,  for  how  long? 

11.  Is  parent  or  guardian  of  apprentice  made  a  party  to  the 
indenture? 

12.  What  suggestions  can  you  offer  to  the  committee? 

In  addition  to  answering  the  questions  propounded,  the 
employers  were  asked  to  give  the  committee  the  benefit  of 
their  experience  along  these  lines,  writing  freely  regarding 
conditions  in  their  own  localities  and  offering  such  sug- 
gestions as  their  experience  seemed  to  warrant. 

Forty  States  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  cities 
and  towns  replied.  The  number  of  individual  firms  report- 
ing was  486.  Over  half  these  shops  give  no  attention  what- 
ever to  training  apprentices.  Many  of  those  who  do,  have 
a  written  agreement  with  stated  periods  of  advancement. 
The  wages  paid  to  beginners  varied  from  $2  a  week  to  $9, 
which  was  the  highest  reported.  Increases  are  generally 
made  at  the  expiration  of  each  six  months'  service.  One 
interesting  and  alarming  feature  of  this  investigation  was 
the  discovery  that  397  shops  were  employing  846  errand 
boys  and  that  for  717  of  these  no  opportunity  for  advance- 
ment was  provided. 

There  are  many  schools  in  operation,  conducted  by  pri- 
vate firms  for  the  instruction  of  their  own  apprentices. 


148  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Many  of  these  schools  are  admirable  in  every  way  and  are 
performing  just  as  useful  a  social,  educational,  and  eco- 
nomic function  as  public  industrial  schools.  It  is  a  question 
for  serious  consideration  whether  these  private  schools, 
carried  on  under  proper  conditions,  with  approved  teach- 
ers and  adequate  equipment,  should  not  be  subsidized  by 
the  State  and  subject  to  Government  inspection. 


VIII 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

ALL  advocates  of  industrial  education  are  agreed  that  some 
measure  of  vocational  guidance  and  direction  is  necessary, 
if,  on  the  one  hand,  our  boys  are  to  find  congenial  and  pro- 
fitable employment,  and  on  the  other,  if  the  industries  are 
to  be  recruited  from  boys  adapted  or  adaptable  to  them. 
The  ultimate  success  of  all  our  efforts  will  very  largely 
depend  on  the  ability  of  the  schools  and  other  social  organ- 
izations to  furnish  some  adequate  measure  of  expert  voca- 
tional guidance  and  direction.  A  recognition  of  this  fact 
has  led  to  the  formation  of  various  agencies  to  bring  about 
the  end  desired. 

In  England  the  organization  has  taken  the  form  of 
"Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  Associations," 
and  in  America  of  "  Vocational  Bureaus."  In  America  voca- 
tional guidance,  up  to  the  present,  at  any  rate,  "does  not 
mean  selecting  a  pursuit  for  a  child,  nor  finding  a  place  for 
him."  In  England  one  of  the  functions  of  the  association 
is  "finding  definite  and  suitable  openings  for  the  children." 
Nearly  forty-five  years  ago  the  London  Jewish  Board  of 
Guardians  took  up  the  matter  by  instituting  a  loan  fund 
out  of  which  premiums  might  be  advanced  to  the  parents, 
and  repaid  from  the  wages  earned  by  the  apprentice.  In 
1886  a  similar  fund  was  started  for  the  Christian  children 
of  East  London,  and  these  boards  have  apprenticed  more 
than  five  thousand  and  one  thousand  children  respectively. 
During  the  past  few  years  the  movement  has  spread  to  the 
elementary  schools.  Pupils  are  placed  at  work  either  as 
apprentices,  or  as  pupils  in  the  London  County  Council  Day 
Trade  Schools,  or  as  learners  (not  indentured)  in  a  trade. 
In  the  latter  case,  care  is  taken  that  the  organization 


150  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

of  the  firm  is  such  that  the  learner  has  a  real  opportunity 
of  actually  learning  the  trade.  The  plan  adopted  is:  — 

1.  One  or  both  parents  must  make  application.  No  child 
is  placed  without  this. 

2.  The  teacher  is  consulted  as  to  the  character  and  abil- 
ity of  the  child. 

3.  An  inquiry  is  made  into  the  financial  condition  of  the 
parents  and  also  into  the  child's  health,  age,  and  school 
career. 

4.  After  further  consultation  with  the  parents  a  suitable 
occupation  is  selected  and  an  opening  sought  for,  if  one  is 
not  immediately  available. 

The  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled  Employment  Association 
carries  on  all  arrangements  with  the  employer  and  super- 
vises the  agreement.  A  special  form  of  indenture  is  used 
which  allows  a  representative  of  the  association  to  act  as  a 
party,  with  power  to  cancel  the  agreement  in  case  of  failure 
either  on  the  part  of  the  employer  or  the  apprentice. 

One  most  desirable  feature  of  the  whole  scheme  is  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  not  considered  finished  when  the  boy 
is  placed.  A  watch  is  kept  over  him  by  a  "visitor"  or 
"guardian"  who  is  always  ready  to  offer  friendly  advice 
or  counsel.  Periodical  reports  are  made  by  the  employer 
to  the  association.  This  oversight  does  not  concern  itself 
wholly  with  the  boy's  work;  it  takes  into  consideration  his 
leisure  also,  and  encourages  and  stimulates  his  attendance 
at  evening  schools,  and  participation  in  healthy  forms  of 
amusement. 

In  preparation  for  its  functions  the  association  has  col- 
lected a  large  amount  of  industrial  information  concern- 
ing the  different  trades,  the  method  adopted  in  teaching 
the  trade,  the  wages  paid,  and  future  prospects.  So  far 
this  movement  has  been  restricted  to  the  skilled  trades, 
but  there  are  large  numbers  who  will  enter  industry  lower 
down  in  the  scale,  and  for  them  help  is  perhaps  even  more 
needed. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  151 

One  of  the  originators  of  this  movement  in  England  has 
said:  — 

May  we  not  look  forward  to  a  time  when  there  may  be  an  "  after 
care  "  committee  in  touch  with  every  school,  which  shall  see  that 
each  child  who  needs  the  help  should  be  placed  in  the  best  work 
possible,  skilled  or  unskilled,  where  necessary,  and  that  each  child 
shall  receive  a  continuance  of  education,  so  that  the  promise 
shown  in  school  life  may  be  fulfilled  and  the  opportunity  be  given 
in  every  case  for  the  full  development  of  ability,  intelligence,  and 
character? 

This  matter  is  considered  of  such  importance  that  it  has 
become  a  subject  of  legislation  by  the  Imperial  Parliament. 
The  Labor  Exchange  Act  of  1909  gave  authority  to  the 
Board  of  Trade  to  establish  and  maintain  labor  exchanges, 
and  the  Education  Act  of  1910  gave  power  to  local  edu- 
cation authorities  "  to  make  arrangements,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Board  of  Education,  for  giving  to  boys 
and  girls  under  seventeen  years  of  age  assistance  with 
respect  to  the  choice  of  suitable  employment,  by  means  of 
the  collection  and  the  communication  of  information  and 
the  furnishing  of  advice/' 

These  two  measures  brought  together  two  bodies  which 
up  to  that  time  had  been  acting  independently  —  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  the  Board  of  Education  —  both  cen- 
tral bodies  having  control  over  the  whole  of  the  British 
Isles  except  where  otherwise  stated.  After  consultation  a 
joint  memorandum  was  issued  by  the  two  bodies,  which 
reserved  to  the  education  authorities  the  right  of  directing 
boys  and  girls  with  regard  to  their  employment  for  six 
months  after  the  termination  of  their  school  life.  As  a 
result  of  the  action  of  these  two  bodies,  juvenile  labor 
bureaus  are  in  process  of  establishment  in  all  the  large 
towns  and  cities  of  Great  Britain. 

The  method  of  operation  in  the  different  cities  is  prac- 
tically the  same.  Both  bodies  work  together.  All  the  ex- 
penses incurred  are  met  by  the  Board  of  Trade.  The  head 


152  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

of  the  bureau  is  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trade  after  con- 
sultation with  the  local  education  authorities. 

In  the  city  of  Birmingham  there  is  a  "central  care  com- 
mittee" organized  as  a  subcommittee  of  the  education 
authority.  This  includes  six  representatives  of  that  body, 
four  social  workers,  four  teachers,  four  employers,  and 
four  labor  representatives,  together  with  the  superintend- 
ent of  the  labor  exchange  and  the  medical  inspector  of 
schools. 

Owing  to  the  work  of  these  committees  the  enrollment  of 
pupils  at  the  evening  continuation  schools  in  Edinburgh 
(Scotland)  increased  in  four  years  by  136  per  cent.  In  the 
same  city,  in  1909, 4270  pupils  were  reported  as  leaving  the 
elementary  schools.  Of  this  number  3074  announced  their 
intention  to  enroll  in  continuation  classes.  A  third  of  these 
(1129)  made  application  for  employment,  and  of  this  num- 
ber 740  were  placed  by  the  bureau  in  suitable  employment. 
These  positions  included  sixty  different  trades  in  addition 
to  office  work  and  miscellaneous  businesses. 

In  the  city  of  London  a  large  number  of  advisory  com- 
mittees have  been  formed  to  cooperate  with  the  labor 
exchanges  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  The 
elementary  school  teachers  send  to  each  committee  par- 
ticulars concerning  the  children  about  to  leave  school. 

The  progress  of  this  work  has  shown  the  necessity  for  spe- 
cial training  of  those  who  are  to  engage  in  the  work  of  vo- 
cational guidance.  To  provide  this,  the  Board  of  Trade 
and  the  London  County  Council  have  drawn  up  an  experi- 
mental programme  for  professional  instruction,  and  pro- 
vided classes  under  the  direction  of  competent  and  expe- 
rienced teachers. 

The  manual  issued  by  the  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled 
Employment  Association  above  referred  to  gives  an  account 
of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  nearly  two  hundred  different 
trades,  and  in  each  case  the  details  given  have  been  revised 
by  an  expert.  In  this  manual  it  is  suggested  that  the  fol- 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 


153 


lowing  features  should  be  noticed  and  an  inquiry  made  as 
to  whether  they  are  present  in  the  particular  workshop  or 
factory  into  which  it  is  intended  to  place  a  boy,  and  also 
whether  they  are  present  in  the  trade  generally. 


CONSIDERATIONS  OF  HEALTH 


Good 
Some  moving  about. 


Bad 

Sitting  or  standing  long  at  a  time 
without  change  of  position. 

Where  exercise  is  not  involved  in  the  work,  a  special  point  should  be 
made  of  a  walk  before  and  after  work. 


Work  out  of  doors. 

Airy  rooms  with  open  windows, 
rooms  kept  at  a  comfortable  tem- 
perature. 


Well-lighted  rooms  with  the  light 
coming  from  the  back  or  side  of  the 
worker. 

Short  hours  (the  shortest  prevalent 
are  eight). 

A  full  hour  for  dinner. 
Facilities  for  getting  a  good  hot 
dinner. 

A  clean  pure  atmosphere  or  ade- 
quate protection  against  dust. 


Care  to  avoid  danger  of  lead  poison- 
ing by  the  wearing  of  overalls,  the 
use  of  oil  to  cleanse  the  hands,  and 
the  habit  of  washing  the  hands  be- 
fore eating. 

No  slack  season  and  no  time  of 
great  pressure. 

Usually  boys  may  be  kept  on  as 
"hands*'  or  may  easily  find  work 
in  the  trade. 

A  trade  may  be  carried  on  all  the 
world  over  and  a  good  all-round 
workman  be  sure  of  earning  his  liv- 
ing in  it  at  home,  or  in  the  Colonies. 


Close  rooms. 
Basement  rooms. 
Excessive  heat  or  cold. 
Exposure  to  the  heat  of  a  furnace. 
Constant  wetting  of  the  hands. 
Frequent  sudden  changes  from  a 
hot  damp  atmosphere  to  a  cold  one. 
Badly  lighted  rooms  where  artifi- 
cial light  is  used  in  the  daytime. 

Long  hours  indoors   (the  longest 
allowed  are  ten). 
Only  half  an  hour  for  dinner. 
No  facilities  for  heating  up  dinner, 
or  for  buying  a  hot  dinner  cheap. 
Working  in  an  atmosphere  where 
there  is  much  dust  which  must  be 
breathed  or  where  the  air  is  heavily 
scented. 

Contact  with  lead  as  in  paint, 
enamel,  and  the  lead  of  type.  Care- 
less habits  with  regard  to  this. 


Slack  seasons  alternating  with  pe- 
riods of  pressure  and  overtime. 
Boys  may  be  discharged  not  fully 
trained  and  find  it  hard  to  get  work 
or  complete  their  training. 
A  trade  may  be  confined  to  one 
town,  or  to  one  district  in  a  town, 
and  a  man  obliged  to  leave  the  dis- 
trict might  be  unable  to  get  work. 


154  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Good  Bad 

A  boy  may  insure  that  he  learns  to  A  trade  may  consist  of  making 

work  any  new  machinery  that  may  things  by  hand,  and  machinery  may 

be  introduced.  be  invented  which  cuts  out  hand- 
made goods. 

A  boy  may  learn  the  theory  of  ma-  A  boy  may  learn  to  work  machines 

chine  construction  both  in  the  work-  which  afterwards  are  driven  out  by 

shop  and  at  technical  classes  so  that  new  machines  of  a  different  pattern, 
when  new  machines  are  introduced 
he  will  be  as  competent  as  any  one 
else  to  work  them. 

Trades  do  not  die  sudden  deaths,  A  boy  may  learn  a  trade  which 

and  a  boy  should  leave  a  dying  afterwards  dies  out  altogether,  from 

trade  and  turn  to  something  else,  a  change  of  fashion. 
The  better  his  general  education 
the  more  easily  will  he  do  this. 

A  definite  written  agreement  may  A  boy  may  be  in  a  good  trade  and 

be  come  to,  under  which  it  is  known  yet  he  may  be  vague  as  to  what 

exactly  what  parts  of  the  trade  a  parts  of  it  he  is  to  learn.  He  may 

boy  is  to  be  taught.  end  by  learning  nothing. 

At   technical   classes  a  boy   may  A  boy  may  be  in  a  skilled  trade  and 

learn  other  processes  of  his  trade  yet  he  may  be  kept  to  one  small 

and  learn,  too,  their  connection  as  process  only, 
a  whole. 

The  National  Conference  on  Vocational  Guidance,  held 
in  Boston  in  1910,  stated  that  "one  large  aim  in  vocational 
guidance  is  to  develop  the  methods  and  material  by  which 
the  public  schools  may  help  fit  their  individual  graduates 
for  the  work  they  are  likely  to  do,  and  in  this  effort  to  use 
all  the  spiritual,  economic,  educational,  and  other  agencies 
which  may  cooperate  to  bring  about  the  most  complete  in- 
formation and  the  best  suggestions."  It  will  be  seen  from 
this  that  vocational  guidance  is  not  only  calculated  to 
eliminate  the  square  peg  in  the  round  hole,  as  far  as  the  in- 
dustries are  concerned,  but  also  to  bring  about  a  rational 
reform  in  the  curriculum  of  the  schools  in  order  more 
directly  to  train  for  vocations. 

Organizations  to  provide  this  guidance  have  been  estab- 
lished in  New  York,  Boston,  Chicago,  Cleveland,  Phila- 
delphia, Pittsburg,  and  many  other  cities.  These,  like  all 
our  educational  reforms,  started  at  the  top;  but,  forfcu- 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  155 

nately  for  the  industries  and  the  boys  who  are  to  enter 
them,  the  movement  is  beginning  to  descend  to  the  ele- 
mentary schools. 

These  organizations  had  their  birth  in  New  York.  The 
movement  began  with  the  efforts  of  some  far-sighted  and 
enthusiastic  teachers  to  place  pupils  leaving  school.  The 
work  was  entirely  voluntary.  By  1908  every  day  or  night 
high  school  had  a  teacher  or  committee  of  teachers  to  as- 
sist pupils  to  decide  on  a  vocation  and  in  learning  how  best 
to  enter  it.  A  series  of  leaflets  is  published  giving  all  the 
necessary  information  concerning  various  industries  and 
professions.  These  were  used  throughout  the  high  school 
course  in  directing  the  attention  of  the  students  to  the  im- 
portance of  choosing  a  vocation  and  definitely  preparing 
for  it.  This  work  has  been  much  more  systematically  de- 
veloped in  the  high  schools  than  elsewhere.  If  the  high 
schools  are  to  be  considered  (as  they  really  are)  as  institu- 
tions almost  solely  for  preparing  the  student  for  college, 
the  professions,  and  commercial  pursuits,  the  work  being 
done  will  have  little  effect  upon  purely  industrial  occupa- 
tions. It  is  generally  admitted  that  their  students  do  not 
enter  and  have  no  intention  of  entering  either  factory  or 
workshop  in  a  productive  capacity. 

It  is  only  when  the  work  of  these  organizations  is  brought 
right  down  to  the  elementary  school  that  it  will  materially 
affect  the  industrial  workers  and  benefit  the  vast  majority 
of  those  who  never  enter  a  high  school.  Recognizing  this,  an 
investigation  is  now  being  conducted  to  acquire  data  and 
"in  case  the  movement  appears  to  grow  out  of  a  real  neces- 
sity to  formulate  a  plan  for  vocational  guidance  for  the 
elementary  schools  of  New  York  City." 

Boston  has  five  organizations  working  harmoniously  to- 
gether for  this  end.  One  of  these  is  a  committee  of  mas- 
ters and  submasters  appointed  by  the  Superintendent  of 
Public  Schools,  with  the  definite  purpose  of  commencing 
the  work  of  direction  before  the  pupils  leave  the  elemen- 


156  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

tary  schools.  The  other  organizations  are  the  Vocation 
Bureau,  the  Women's  Municipal  League,  the  Girls  Trade 
Education  League,  and  the  Boston  Home  and  School  Asso- 
ciation. Inquiries  have  been  conducted  into  more  than  a 
hundred  occupations  and  the  information  gathered  filed 
for  reference.  As  an  example  of  the  thoroughness  with 
which  these  investigations  are  carried  out,  take  the  fol- 
lowing sample  blank  as  filled  in  for  a  shoe  factory: — 

THE  VOCATION  BUREAU,  BOSTON 
VOCATIONS  FOR  BOSTON  BOYS 

Nature  of  occupation?  Shoe  manufacture. 

Date  of  inquiry?  July  1st,  1910. 

Name  of  firm? 

Address? 

Superintendent  or  manager? 

Total  number  of  employees?  2730  male,  2280  female. 

Number  of  boys  and  girls?  1200  boys,  1000  girls. 

Has  there  been  a  shifting  in  the        No:  there  is  fixed  work  for  each. 

relative  numbers  of  each? 

Pay 

Wages  of  various  groups,  and  ages?  Errand  boys,  counters,  carriers,  14 

years  old,  $3.50;  assemblers,  assist- 
ants, pattern  boys,  16  years,  $3.50 
to  $6;  lasters,  20  years,  $6  to  $7; 
other  work,  20  years  or  more,  $8  to 
$12  for  young  men  in  early  employ- 
ment. 

Wages  at  beginning?  $3.50  to  $6. 

Seasonal?  By  year. 

Hours  per  day?  7.30  A.M.  to  5.30  P.M.;  to  12  M. 

on  Saturday  in  summer;  one  hour 
nooning. 

Rate  of  increase?  This  is  very  irregular,  averaging  $1 

per  week  each  year. 

a.  On  what  dependent?  Not  at  all  on  age,  but  on  ability,  on 

position  filled,  or  on  increase  in  skill 
in  a  certain  process. 

b.  Tune  or  piece  payment?  66  per  cent  piece-payment.  Bonus 

for  certain  lines  on  quality  and 
quantity  of  work,  neatness  of  de- 
partments, etc. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 


157 


How  are  boys  secured? 


Their  ages? 
Previous  jobs? 


Previous  schooling? 


Are  any  continuing  this 
and  where? 


By  application  to  firm,  by  adver- 
tising, and  by  employees.  It  is  im- 
possible to  find  enough. 
Fourteen  years  and  up. 
Nearly  all  boys  come  into  this  in- 
dustry from  school.  A  few  come 
from  other  shoe  factories  or  from 
retail  shoe  stores. 

Grammar  school  or  a  certificate  of 
literacy  or  attendance  at  night 
school  must  be  presented, 
training,  Yes;  in  public  evening  schools;  in 
Y.M.C.A.  classes,  and  continua- 
tion school  in  Boston. 


The  Industry 


Physical  conditions? 


What  variety  of  skill  required? 


Description  of  processes? 


What  special  dangers? 

a.  Machinery. 

b.  Dust. 

c.  Moisture. 

d.  Hard  labor. 

e.  Strain. 

/.  Monotony. 

Competitive  conditions  of  industry  ? 


Future  of  industry? 

What  chance  for  grammar  school 
boy? 


Most  sanitary,  with  modern  im- 
provements and  safeguards,  with 
hospital  department  and  trained 
nurses. 

Some  mechanical  skill.  The  ordi- 
nary boy  of  good  sense  can  easily 
learn  all  processes. 
Errand  boys,  counters,  carriers,  as- 
semblers, assistants,  pattern  boys, 
lasters,  trimmers,  and  work  dyeing 
and  welting  shoes.  Also  in  office, 
salesman,  foreman,  manager,  or 
superintendent. 

The  chief  danger  arises  from  care- 
lessness. 

Modern  dust  removers  are  used. 
Not  to  excess. 

Steady  labor  rather  than  hard. 
Not  excessive. 

Considerable  on  automatic  ma- 
chines. 

New  England  is  a  great  centre  of 
the  shoe  industry.  There  is  ex- 
treme competition,  but  with  a  world 
market. 

The  future  of  a  staple  product  in 
universal  demand. 
He  would  begin  at  the  bottom  as 
errand  boy. 


158 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 


High  school  graduate? 


In  office  or  in  wholesale  depart- 
ment to  become  salesman  or  man- 


ager. 

Vocational  school  graduate?  Trade  school  giving  factory  equip- 

ment would  be  best. 

What  opportunity  for  the  worker  The  superintendent  and  foreman 
to  show  what  he  can  do  in  other  study  the  boy  and  place  him  where 
departments?  it  seems  best  for  him  and  for  the 

firm. 


Tests 


What  kind  of  boy  is  desired? 
What  questions  asked  of  applicant? 


What  tests  applied? 
What  records  kept? 


Union  or  non-union? 
Comment  of  employer? 


Will  he  take  boys  sent  by  vocation 

bureau? 

Will  he  attend  vocation  bureau  con-   Gladly. 

ferences  if  asked? 

Comment  of  foreman? 


Honest,    bright,    healthy,    strong. 
Boys  living  at  home  are  preferred. 
As  to  home,  education,  experience, 
and  why  leaving  any  former  posi- 
tion. 

For  office  work,  writing  and  figuring. 
Name,  address,  age,  nationality, 
married  or  single,  living  at  home  or 
boarding,  pay,  date  of  entry  and  of 
leaving. 
Open  shop. 

Education  is  better  for  the  boys 
and  for  us. 
Yes. 


Comment  of  boys? 


Health  Board  comments? 


Employment  bureaus  have  failed 
us.  We  look  everywhere  for  boys, 
but  find  few  such  as  we  want.  The 
average  boy  can  apply  himself  here 
so  as  to  be  well  placed  in  life. 
We  have  a  bowling-alley,  reading- 
room  and  library,  park,  and  much 
to  make  service  here  pleasant.  It 
is  something  like  school  still.  We 
mean  to  stay.  Piece-work  will  give 
us  good  pay  by  the  time  we  are 
twenty  years  old. 

Inhaling  naphtha  from  cements  and 
dust  from  leather-working  ma- 
chines, and  overcrowding  and  over- 
heating workrooms  are  to  be 
guarded  against  in  this  occupation. 
The  danger  of  such  injurious  process 
may  be  prevented  by  proper  care. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  159 

Census  Bureau  Report  on  this  Occupation,  Massachusetts , 

1908 

Number  of  establishments,  413.  Capital  invested,  $35,260,028. 
Value  of  stock,  $104,171,604.  Wages  paid,  $38,959,428.  Average 
earnings,  $562.59.  Males  employed,  46,063.  Females,  23,187. 
Value  of  product,  $169,957,116. 

Bibliography:  The  Shoe  Manufacturing  Industry  in  New  Eng- 
land, I.  K.  Bailey  (New  England  States,  vol.  1, 1897)  and  Massa- 
chusetts Labor  Bulletin,  no.  14,  May,  1910. 

School  fitting  for  this  occupation:  The  Boston  Continuation 
School. 

,  Investigator. 

The  information  thus  gathered  is  issued  in  bulletin  form 
and  widely  distributed.  Bulletins  have  already  been  pub- 
lished on  "The  Machinist,"  "Banking,"  "The  Baker," 
"Confectionery  Manufacture,"  "The  Architect,"  "The 
Landscape  Architect,"  "The  Grocer,"  "The  Department 
Store  and  its  Opportunities  for  Boys  and  Young  Men," 
"The  Lawyer,"  "The  Shoe  Industry."  These  are  issued 
primarily  to  supply  teachers  and  others  with  the  necessary 
information  and  material,  in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to 
advise  parents  and  boys  intelligently  in  the  choice  of  an 
occupation,  but  are  not  intended  to  take  the  place  of  per- 
sonal consultation  and  cooperation.  The  contents  of  the  bul- 
letin on  "  The  Machinist "  are  as  follows :  —  The  trade  —  its 
divisions,  dangers,  conditions,  future;  pay,  positions  and  op- 
portunities; apprenticeship  in  the  trade;  apprentice  courses 
for  machinists,  die  and  tool  makers,  and  pattern  makers;  the 
boy  —  qualities  and  training  required;  comments  of  people 
in  the  trade;  comments  from  the  Massachusetts  Board  of 
Health  Report;  statistics  of  manufacture,  growth  of  the 
industry  by  decades;  bibliography;  trade  periodicals,  and 
a  list  of  schools  giving  courses  fitting  for  the  occupation. 
Before  being  issued  in  its  final  form  the  bulletin  was  sub- 
mitted for  approval  to  a  number  of  employers,  an  econo- 


160  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

mist,  and  a  labor  union  official,  so  that  it  is  fair  to  assume 
that  the  information  given  is  absolutely  correct. 

The  City  of  Munich  has  issued  over  a  hundred  of  such 
handbooks  or  bulletins. 

The  Boston  School  Committee  has  aroused  the  interests 
of  the  teachers,  and  this  must  be  an  essential  feature  of 
any  scheme  for  influencing  the  children  of  the  elementary 
school.  A  committee  of  councillors  is  appointed  for  each 
school,  and  lectures  and  addresses  are  given  to  interest  both 
parents  and  children.  A  card  record  system  is  adopted  on 
which  all  the  graduates  of  the  school  are  entered,  so  that  all 
the  particulars  required  concerning  each  child  are  known 
and  charted.  A  tabulation  of  the  data  thus  obtained 
through  a  number  of  years  should  provide  valuable  ma- 
terial for  intelligent  action  in  the  future. 

A  system  of  summer  apprenticeships  has  been  estab- 
lished, and  a  special  officer  appointed  to  find  work  for  boys 
during  the  summer.  The  business  men  of  the  city  have 
heartily  endorsed  this  plan  and  agree  to  give  the  boys  the 
best  possible  chance  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  business, 
and  to  show  whether  they  are  fitted  or  not.  In  the  "Trade 
School  for  Girls"  two  "vocational  assistants"  have  been 
appointed  and  the  regulations  of  the  School  Board  require 
such  an  officer  for  each  hundred  girls  in  the  school.  There 
is  also  a  paid  assistant  in  the  High  School  of  Practical  Arts. 

There  are  decided  possibilities  for  vocational  guidance 
within  the  school  system  itself,  and  these  possibilities 
should  be  effectively  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
parents.  Probably  the  most  unique  example  of  effort  in 
this  direction  is  the  Annual  Report  of  the  School  Com- 
mittee of  Boston  for  1912.  This  report  is  issued  "to  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  Boston,"  and  steps  are  taken  to 
see  that  it  reaches  the  hands  of  those  for  whom  it  is 
intended.  It  is  well  illustrated  and  gives  an  account  of 
the  organization  and  purpose  of  every  type  of  school 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Board.  Every  pupil  in  grade 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  161 

eight  and  some  in  grade  seven  are  furnished  with  a  copy. 
The  study  of  the  report  is  encouraged  by  a  series  of 
twenty-eight  questions  which  the  pupils  are  requested  to 
answer.  It  is  hoped  by  these  and  other  means  to  acquaint 
the  parents  with  the  facilities  and  opportunities  the  schools 
have  to  offer. 

During  the  past  two  years  the  movement  towards 
adequate  vocational  guidance  has  made  remarkable 
strides.  The  present  status  of  the  movement  has  been 
well  summarized  by  William  T.  Bawden,  managing 
editor  of  "Vocational  Education." 

Not  so  very  long  ago  the  problem  of  vocational  guidance  meant 
the  finding  of  a  job  for  the  individual  in  some  industry,  and  it  was 
regarded  as  a  very  simple  proposition. 

As  men  and  women  have  studied  into  these  problems,  however, 
they  have  discovered  that  here  is  an  immense  field,  challenging 
the  most  thorough  investigation,  and  offering  almost  unlimited 
opportunities  for  the  application  of  scientific  method  and  skill. 
The  effort  to  find  employment  for  boys  and  girls  has  been  largely 
transformed  into  an  effort  to  keep  the  boys  and  girls  out  of  the 
industries,  by  convincing  them  and  their  parents  of  the  value  of 
further  schooling,  at  least  until  there  is  available  a  fund  of  more 
definite  knowledge  of  the  industries  into  which  it  is  proposed  to 
send  the  children. 

There  are  several  distinct  problems  recognized  in  this  general 
field  of  vocational  guidance:  — 

(1)  There  are  still  those  who  believe  the  problem  to  be  one 
mainly  of  guiding  individual  boys  and  girls  into  suitable  employ- 
ment. 

(2)  There  are  those  who  believe  that  in  the  present  state  of 
general  ignorance,  the  ones  most  in  need  of  vocational  guidance 
are  the  teachers  and  parents  who  are  themselves  supposed  to  be 
the  sources  of  advice. 

(3)  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  industries  need  to  be  care- 
fully and  systematically  studied,  to  the  end  that  vocational  coun- 
sellors may  know  as  accurately  and  fully  as  possible  the  condi- 
tions into  which  they  send  the  boys  and  girls.  It  is  believed  that 
many  industries  must  be  greatly  modified  before  any  organized 
agency  can  assume  responsibility  for  the  employment  of  children 
in  them. 


162  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

(4)  Many  believe  that  employers  as  a  class  are  as  much  in  need 
of  vocational  enlightenment  as  any  of  the  others  involved. 

(5)  And,  finally,  there  are  those  to  whom  vocational  guidance 
means  the  impartial  distribution   of   advice  and  suggestion  to 
children,  parents,  teachers,  employers  and  the  industries. 

The  extension  of  this  movement  throughout  the  country 
should  do  much  to  benefit  the  industries  and  assure  con- 
genial and  profitable  lifework  to  the  industrial  workers, 
who  form  the  backbone  of  the  population,  and  on  whom  the 
prosperity  and  policies  of  the  nation  ultimately  depend. 


IX 

GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

THE  only  asset  of  the  worker  in  the  productive  industries 
is  his  labor,  and  he  must,  for  his  own  sake  and  that  of  his 
family,  obtain  as  much  for  it  as  he  can.  Every  man  should 
value  his  work  partly  in  terms  of  the  money  he  is  able  to 
earn  and  partly  in  the  opportunity  for  experience  that  will 
make  him  eligible  for  greater  serving  power  in  the  future, 
and  he  should  be  willing  to  sacrifice  to  some  extent  the 
former  for  the  latter. 

After  carefully  reviewing  the  situation  one  cannot  help 
coming  to  the  conclusion  that  one  of  the  crying  and  out- 
standing needs  is  the  education  of  the  parent.  He  must  be 
convinced  that  employment  in  the  industries  is  as  desirable 
for  his  children  as  "positions"  in  the  so-called  professions. 
Up  to  the  present  the  only  organization  established  for  the 
promotion  of  industrial  education,  that  has  reached  those 
with  whom  the  ultimate  decision  will  rest,  and  from 
whom  the  candidates  for  the  industrial  schools  will  be 
drawn,  is  the  vocation  bureau.  The  parent  must  be  shown 
that  conditions  of  labor  are  constantly  improving  and 
that  continued  education,  either  academic  or  industrial, 
will  benefit  himself  and  his  children  financially  as  well  as 
socially. 

The  prejudice  against  industry,  which  undoubtedly 
exists,  ought  to  be  removed;  and  to  this  end  an  active  local 
propaganda  should  be  inaugurated  with  the  distinct  purpose 
of  reaching  the  industrial  worker,  for  he,  if  properly  organ- 
ized, is  the  absolute  master  of  the  situation.  There  is  no 
class  of  the  community  better  qualified  to  undertake  this 
propaganda  than  the  enlightened  educator,  as  his  advocacy 


164  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

will  not  be  liable  to  be  hindered  by  charges  of  selfishness 
and  prejudice  and  he  will  be  better  able  to  secure  the 
confidence  of  both  sides. 

The  theoretical  interest  taken  by  employers  is  thought, 
by  the  labor  interests,  to  be  inspired  by  ulterior  mo- 
tives, and  this  suspicion,  whether  justified  or  not,  has 
induced  the  artisan  to  hold  aloof.  Generally  speaking, 
though  the  leaders  of  labor  organizations  have  put  them- 
selves on  record  as  favorable  to  industrial  education,  the 
rank  and  file  have  held  back.  At  present  the  wage-earner 
is  neither  for  nor  against  industrial  education.  He  is  sim- 
ply cautious  —  perhaps  indifferent.  In  the  United  States 
his  only  experience  has  been  with  private  trade  schools  run 
as  money-making  institutions,  and  on  the  evidence  that 
has  been  generally  presented  to  him  his  conclusions  are 
justifiable. 

In  the  conduct  of  this  propaganda  all  labor  organiza- 
tions should  be  approached  and  the  subject  presented  to 
them  from  every  point  of  view.  The  discussion  should 
centre  on  definite  plans  and  deal  with  results  that  have  so  far 
been  accomplished,  and  not  concern  itself  with  high-sound- 
ing generalities  and  stale  platitudes.  Every  means  should 
be  taken  to  remove  the  distrust  which  undoubtedly 
exists. 

Some  are  beginning  to  think  that  under  present  economic 
conditions  the  fixing  of  the  age  for  entry  into  the  industries 
at  sixteen  is  a  mistake,  and  that  it  is  forcing  the  boy  into 
the  ranks  of  unskilled  labor.  It  is  argued  that  he  is  often 
less  able  at  sixteen  than  at  fourteen,  owing  to  the  unstable 
and  uneducative  character  of  his  occupation  between  those 
ages.  If  the  conditions  existing  between  fourteen  and  six- 
teen years  of  age  were  different,  if  the  child  were  educa- 
tionally employed  with  a  definite  purpose  in  view,  this 
question  would  not  arise,  but  we  cannot  help  doubting, 
with  the  conditions  as  they  are  and  not  as  we  would  like 
them  to  be,  whether  it  is  wise  to  retain  a  restriction 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  165 

that  would  be  eminently  desirable  were  the  conditions 
different. 

Parents  should  be  encouraged  to  make  a  decision,  or 
rather  to  help  the  boy  to  make  a  decision,  much  earlier 
than  at  present.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  particular 
kind  of  trade  be  decided  upon,  but  simply  that  he  is  to  go 
into  some  form  of  handicraft.  The  German  parent  is  called 
upon  to  make  these  decisions  at  various  stages  in  the 
child's  educational  career.  At  the  early  age  of  ten  he  must 
choose  the  form  of  general  education  he  wishes  his  child  to 
receive,  whether  primary  or  secondary.  Undoubtedly  this 
decision  has  to  be  made  according  to  his  means  and  posi- 
tion and  not  according  to  his  desires.  While  the  child  is  in 
the  secondary  school  another  choice  has  to  be  made,  and  in 
this  second  choice  the  natural  aptitudes  of  the  child  have 
to  be  considered.  The  choice  now  made  practically  decides 
whether  the  boy  is  to  be  trained  for  a  business  or  an 
industrial  career.  There  is  thus  a  considerable  difference 
between  Germany  and  America.  In  the  former  the  parent 
decides,  influenced,  perhaps,  by  the  boy.  In  the  latter  the 
boy  decides  (when  a  decision  is  made),  influenced  very  little 
by  the  parent.  The  boy  must  be  made  to  think  of  his 
future,  difficult  though  it  may  be,  and  the  folly  of  selling 
it  for  immediate  but  transitory  gain  pointed  out  to  him. 
We  must  also  change  our  views  as  to  what  are  now  socially 
considered  as  "menial"  employments. 

There  is  almost  such  a  thing  as  a  country  being  too  pros- 
perous. Industry  is  booming,  and  boys  can  now  so  readily 
become  proficient  in  a  number  of  occupations  at  which 
they  can  earn  journeyman's  wages  by  applying  themselves 
to  the  running  of  one  machine  and  turning  out  a  part  of  a 
part  of  a  product,  that  it  needs  considerable  effort  and  sac- 
rifice on  their  part  to  attempt  to  learn  the  whole  of  a  trade 
even  where  factory  conditions  are  such  that  this  is  possible. 
"Unskilled  employment  at  fourteen  with  good  money 
tempts  the  boy  like  a  baited  trap."  The  boy  and  his 


166  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

parent  should  be  clearly  shown  that  as  a  general  rule  the 
higher  the  immediate  pay  the  poorer  will  be  the  future 
prospects. 

Consider  the  following  regarding  increased  earning  power 
given  by  a  course  of  industrial  training.  Two  hundred 
pupils  before  entering  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  Trade  School 
earned  on  an  average  $5.39  per  week.  After  five  and  a  half 
months' training  (the  full  length  of  the  course  given  here), 
the  same  students  averaged  $7.54  per  week. 

One  of  the  most  important  factors  in  the  consideration 
of  wages  is  that  the  child  commencing  at  sixteen  overtakes 
the  boy  beginning  at  fourteen  in  less  than  two  years.  That 
his  total  income  in  four  years  would  equal  that  of  the  other 
for  six  years  we  cannot  yet  prove,  but  the  slight  data  we 
have  seem  to  indicate  that  this  is  the  case.  The  boy  from 
fourteen  to  sixteen  is  worth  $4  a  week  if  only  to  run  errands. 
This  equals  $200,  or  interest  on  $4000  at  five  per  cent.  On 
this  basis  practically  every  boy  represents  a  working  capi- 
tal of  $4000.  The  right  kind  of  school  training  should  send 
a  boy  out  at  the  end  of  two  years  with  an  earning  capacity 
of  at  least  $12  a  week,  or  $600  a  year.  On  the  same  basis 
this  equals  interest  on  $12,000,  an  increase  of  threefold  in 
two  years.  After  a  year's  special  training  this  increase 
would  be  still  greater. 

Next  take  the  experience  of  the  North  End  School  of 
Printing,  Boston. 

A  number  of  the  master  printers  of  that  city  have  estab- 
lished a  school  in  which  one  year's  training  is  given.  After 
this  training  the  boy  enters  the  shop  and  receives  the  same 
wages  as  are  paid  at  the  last  half  of  the  third  year  of  the 
ordinary  five  years'  apprenticeship.  It  will  be  seen  by 
the  following  table  that  the  wage  is  also  from  three  to  five 
dollars  greater  than  that  of  the  ordinary  apprentice  during 
the  same  years.  In  this  school,  boys  are  not  taken  until 
they  are  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  they  are  required  to  pay 
a  tuition  fee  of  $100:  — 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  167 

Income  for  five  years,  ordinary  apprenticeship,  without 

the  School 
f  26  weeks  at  $4.00 $104.00 


PiV«i 
Firstyear 

c  (26  6.00  ...................      156.00 

Secondyear   |%  7  Q0  ...................      ^  Q0 

8'00  ...................      *08'00 


Thirdvear 

d  year         26  9.00  ...................      234.00 

T,,      ,,  26  10.00  ...................      260.00 

Fourthyear 


TJ,...,  (  26  13.00  ...................      338.00 

Fifth  year  .      390.00 


$2,288.00 

Income  for  the  same  time,  one  year  of  which  is  spent  in 

the  School. 
First  year  in  the  school  ...........................      000.00 

weeks  at  $9.00  ...................    $234.00 


~>      , 
Secondyear 

26  11.00  ...................      286.00 


m,  •  , 
Thirdyear 

26  14.00  ...................      364.00 


,-,       .  , 

Fourthyear 

26  18.00  ...................      468.00 


p.,.,  x 

Fifth  year  lg  00  ...................      468.00 


$2,808.00 

Income,  five  years,  one  year  in  School  ..............  $2,808.00 

Income,  five  years,  shop  apprenticeship  ............     2,288.00 

$520.00 
Less  tuition  .....................................        100.00 


Net  advantage  of  one  year  in  School   ..............        420.00 

The  Massachusetts  Industrial  Commission  of  1906,  pre- 
viously referred  to,  investigated  the  cases  of  more  than 
eight  hundred  boys  and  young  men,  employed  within  the 
State,  and  ascertained  the  average  weekly  wages  of  those 
who  had  been  trained  in  the  shops  and  of  those  who  had 


168  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

been  trained  in  industrial  and  technical  schools.   The  re- 
sults obtained  are  given  below:  — 

*  Average  wages  of        Average  wages  of  boys 

shop  trained  boys      trained  in  technical  school 
A  B 

14  4.00 

15  4.50 

16  5.00 

17  6.00 

18  7.00  10.00 

19  8.50  11.75 

20  9.50  15.00 
j  21              9.50            16.00 

22  11.50  20.00 

23  11.75  21.00 

24  12.00  23.00 

25  12.75  31.00 

A  summation  of  this  table  shows  that  if  two  boys  of  ordi- 
nary intelligence  and  ability  had  graduated  from  the  ele- 
mentary school  twelve  years  ago  and  A  had  gone  to  work 
at  once,  while  B  had  entered  a  good  industrial  or  technical 
school,  A  would  have  earned  with  twelve  years'  work  about 
$5122.50,  and  B  about  $7387.50,  or  about  one  and  a  half 
times  as  much.  This  estimate  gives  to  each  boy  a  vacation 
of  two  weeks  per  year  without  pay.  One  has  nearly  reached 
the  limit  of  wages  paid  to  unskilled  labor,  while  the  other, 
with  training  and  experience,  is  just  beginning  to  get  a  rapid 
advancement  in  wages  that  may  enable  him  to  launch  out 
into  business  on  his  own  account,  and  thus  furnish  employ- 
ment for  many  who,  like  his  unfortunate  schoolmate,  were 
forced  to  go  directly  from  the  elementary  school  to  the 
shop. 

The  investigations  of  Mr.  James  M.  Dodge,  then  Pres- 
ident of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
along  the  same  lines  are  well  known,  and  all  point  to  the 
same  conclusion.  Such  facts  have  a  powerful  influence,  and 
for  this  reason  less  emphasis  should  be  placed  on  the  ped- 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  169 

agogic  and  cultural  aim  and  objects  of  industrial  education 
and  more  upon  its  economic  and  social  aspects.  Both  busi- 
ness men  and  workmen  are  more  receptive  to  arguments 
of  this  character. 

Industrial  education  imposes  mutual  duties  on  the 
employer  and  the  employee;  both  receive  and  both  give. 
The  employer  must  receive  more  and  better  work  and  the 
employee,  in  return  for  giving  this,  must  receive  greater 
consideration  and  higher  wages.  The  object  of  the  manu- 
facturer is  increased  production.  The  object  of  the  work- 
man is  higher  wages  and  comfortable  and  safe  working 
conditions.  If  the  manufacturer  advocates  industrial  educa- 
tion, and  is  not  willing  to  recognize  that  this  entails  higher 
wages,  that  type  of  education  will  be  opposed,  and  rightly 
opposed,  by  organized  labor.  We  need  less  avarice  on  the 
one  hand,  and  less  selfishness  on  the  other.  There  is  a  labor 
of  quality  and  a  labor  of  quantity.  Industrial  education) 
will  increase  both,  and  in  these  days  it  is  perhaps  more 
necessary  to  inculcate  pride  of  workmanship  rather  than) 
speed  of  production. 

As  Mr.  Frank  Vanderlip  says:  — 

We  have  gained  markets  because  we  have  cheap  raw  material, 
because  of  American  (United  States)  inventive  ingenuity,  and 
because  of  the  great  scale  upon  which  we  have  done  things;  but 
never  have  we  gained  an  important  market  because  we  could  do 
a  piece  of  work  better  than  our  competitors  could  do  it.  Never 
have  we  sold  an  important  consignment  because  superior  handi- 
craft entered  into  its  production. 

Great  economic  losses  are  perpetually  occurring  through 
industrial  incompetency.  The  increase  in  the  nation's 
wealth  that]  would  be  gained  by  better  preparation's 
incalculable,  and  the  additional  profit  to  the  industry  can 
readily  be  understood.  A  flaw  in  a  rail  or  a  girder,  imper- 
fect plumbing  in  a  tenement,  may  cause  the  loss  of  hun- 
dreds of  lives  before  the  defective  piece  of  work  can  be 
replaced  or  remedied.  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  repairs  re- 


170  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

quired  to  working  machinery  are  said  to  be  directly  due  to 
the  negligence  and  ignorance  of  the  operator.  Instruction 
in  the  care  and  manipulation  of  appliances  will  reduce  this 
loss  by  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent,  and  all  operators, 
particularly  those  employed  on  piece-work,  should  person- 
ally gain  in  the  same  proportion.  The  efficiency  of  labor 
would  not  have  to  be  extraordinarily  increased,  to  raise  the 
earning  power  of  the  individual  ten  cents  a  day,  yet  such  an 
increase  would  amount  to  nearly  a  billion  dollars  annually. 

The  right  kind  of  education  will  not  only  get  the  boy 
into  the  "job,"  but  it  will  also  get  him  out  of  it.  The 
American  youth  is  held  to  one  branch  partly  by  ignorance 
and  partly  by  economic  pressure.  It  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected that  if  he  receives  good  wages  under  the  piece-work 
system  he  should  leave  one  machine  in  the  factory  to  learn 
to  operate  another  where  he  would  receive  less  money, 
being  less  skilled  at  the  new  work.  The  only  place  where 
he  can  acquire  skill  in  working  a  new  machine  is  in  an 
evening  trade  or  industrial  school. 

Initiative  has  been  defined  as  doing  the  right  kind  of 
thing  without  being  told,  and  ability  as  doing  the  right 
thing  after  being  told  once,  and  in  the  education  to  be 
given,  both  these  qualities  need  to  be  developed.  Their 
possession  will  enable  the  boy  to  rise  step  by  step  in  his 
chosen  trade  and  give  him  stability  and  ambition.  Stability 
does  not  mean  sticking  to  one  thing  forever,  but  it  does 
mean  standing  by  that  one  thing  until  all  its  possibilities 
have  been  exhausted.  When  this  result  has  been  achieved, 
movement  is  desirable.  This  movement  is  very  different 
from  the  restlessness  and  shif tlessness  which  is  so  character- 
istic of  the  modern  youth.  In  every  workman  we  should 
recognize  the  possibility  of  a  competent  foreman,  and  the 
instruction  given  should  be  such  that,  while  it  is  imme- 
diately applicable  to  his  daily  work,  it  will  yet  have  a  value 
in  the  future  in  any  higher  position  the  young  workman 
may  prove  himself  capable  of  filling. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  171 

Another  function  of  industrial  education  that  should  be 
stressed  is  the  development  of  what  has  been  called  indus- 
trial elasticity.  When  Bessemer  invented  his  new  method 
of  making  steel,  thirty-nine  thousand  workmen  formerly 
engaged  in  making  bar  iron  in  puddling  furnaces  lost  their 
means  of  making  a  living  because  the  industry  took  a 
new  direction.  This  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  example. 
Science  and  invention  are  sweeping  away  many  of  the 
humbler  occupations  and  evolving  new  ones,  and  industrial 
versatility  is  at  least  quite  as  necessary  as  industrial  skill 
or  knowledge.  The  educational  watchword,  "Knowledge  is 
Power,"  is  responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  undigested  and 
unassimilated  information.  Only  that  knowledge  is  valu- 
able which  is  usable.  It  is  the'  application  that  is  made 
of  the  knowledge  that  gives  the  power,  and  not  its  mere 
possession. 

The  advance  of  industry  in  all  countries  depends  very 
largely  on  employers  being  able  to  secure  workmen  of  suffi- 
cient knowledge  and  flexibility  of  mind  to  be  able  to  turn 
readily  from  the  one  thing  they  have  been  doing  to  some- 
thing different,  according  to  the  character  of  the  improve- 
ment that  has  been  made  in  the  processes  of  the  industry. 

The  object  in  view  is  the  development  of  the  industrial 
productivity  of  the  country  to  the  utmost  extent  consist- 
ent with  social  betterment  and  welfare.  Thousands  of 
men  are  employed  to-day  in  industries  that  had  no  exist- 
ence fifty  or  sixty  years  ago.  The  bicycle,  the  telephone, 
electric  light,  and  automobile  have  given  birth  to  a  number 
of  new  employments.  An  industry  becomes  obsolete  in  a 
generation  and  a  valuable  machine  is  often  scrapped  in  less 
than  a  decade.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  essential 
that  the  workers  should  have  the  opportunity  to  develop 
that  elasticity,  versatility,  or  adaptability  which  will  pre- 
vent them  being  thrown  out  of  employment  when  these 
changes  come,  as  come  they  will. 

Skilled  labor  is  essential.  The  progress  and  develop- 


172  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ment  of  an  industry  depends  on  the  technical  training  of 
the  few.  Its  continuance  depends  on  the  industrial  train- 
ing of  the  many.  What  the  future  artisans  are  to  be,  and 
the  part  they  are  to  play  in  the  national  life,  are  probably 
the  most  important  questions  the  political  economist  has 
to  consider.  To  secure  workers  in  the  skilled  trades  under 
present  conditions  entails  a  wanton  economic  waste. 
Many  who  might  be  most  valuable  are  never  known  be- 
cause they  have  never  had  an  opportunity  to  discover 
their  own  talents. 

It  is  sometimes  urged  that  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
skilled  workers  will  render  it  difficult  for  the  present  work- 
ers to  obtain  employment,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  even 
now  many  are  unable  to  get  work.  The  fact  that  many  of 
the  men  engaged  in  a  trade  are  unable  to  secure  employ- 
ment is  by  no  means  always  evidence  that  it  is  over- 
crowded. It  may  be  found  that  the  work  has  to  be  sent 
abroad  because  there  are  no  men  sufficiently  skilled  to  do 
it,  and  that  the  unemployed  are  largely  men  who  only 
partially  understand  the  various  processes  involved  in  the 
work,  a  defect  which  can  be  remedied  only  by  deeper  know- 
ledge and  broader  training. 


PART  III 
THE  DANGERS 


DANGERS  ARISING  FROM  THE  MISINTERPRETATION 
OF  FOREIGN   SYSTEMS,   AND   OTHER  CAUSES 

IN  the  promotion  and  organization  of  industrial  education 
many  mistakes  are  likely  to  be  made.  Some  of  these  have 
been  incidentally  referred  to  throughout  the  preceding 
pages:  those  arising  from  the  lack  of  parental  influence 
and  guidance,  the  misdirection  of  the  work  of  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  the  non-enforcement  of  compulsory  attend- 
ance laws,  the  drifting  of  adolescents,  the  haphazard  choice 
of  occupations,  and  the  danger  of  ignoring  the  advantages 
of  a  rational  system  of  apprenticeship.  In  addition  to  the 
above  there  are  a  number  of  others,  some  of  which  will  now 
be  dealt  with. 

Many  mistakes  have  been  made  and  much  money 
wasted  in  the  building  and  equipment  of  industrial  and 
technical  schools.  All  that  should  be  aimed  at,  for  the 
shop  work,  is  the  reproduction  of  the  best  workshop 
conditions.  The  structures  provided  for  this  work  should 
form  an  integral  part  of  the  whole  building  and  have  as 
much  attention  devoted  to  them  as  those  provided  for 
the  academic  instruction,  in  order  that  the  two  branches 
may  be  regarded  as  of  equal  value.  Buildings  can  be  archi- 
tecturally beautiful  without  being  too  costly,  if  a  simple 
effective  style  be  chosen. 

Often  the  machinery,  tools,  and  general  equipment  are 
designed  more  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  effective  show 
than  for  efficiency  of  service.  Dr.  Andrew  S.  Draper,  Com- 
missioner of  Education  for  the  State  of  New  York,  says :  — 

Many  a  time  a  principal  or  teacher  pleads  for  an  appropriation 
with  which  to  buy  machinery,  tools,  and  other  equipment  without 
any  definite  theory,  or  plan,  or  end  in  view.  If  refused  he  would 


176  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

feel  outraged  and  become  a  martyr.  If  given,  he  studies  the  cata- 
logues, and  sees  the  agents  for  the  purpose  of  spending  the  money 
in  ways  that  will  look  well  and  make  an  impression  upon  the 
people,  who  always  love  an  object  lesson  and  are  often  susceptible 
and  superficial  about  industrial  training.  Real  tradesmen  and 
workmen  discriminate:  and  they  are  amused  by  what  they  see. 
There  is  not  enough  substantial  result  to  it.  I  know  very  well  that 
this  is  not  always  true,  but  quite  as  well  that  it  is  often  true. 

He  has  also  pointed  out  that  the  preponderating  influence 
of  technical  schools  throughout  the  whole  of  America  is 
in  the  direction  of  turning  out  men  for  professional  and 
managing  employments,  and  that  they  do  not  train  work- 
men, and  herein  lies  a  real  danger. 

It  is  a  grave  error  to  inaugurate  these  schools  with  costly 
equipment  and  elaborate  buildings.  A  plain  building  of 
the  most  modern  and  beautiful  factory  type  (and  there  are 
some  of  these  that  might  well  be  taken  as  models)  is  all 
that  is  essential,  and  money  should  not  be  wasted  in  non- 
essentials,  particularly  when  better  results  can  be  obtained 
without  them,  and  when  the  money  can  be  better  spent  in 
directions  which  will  materially  increase  the  efficiency  of 
the  work. 

It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  the  most  vital  industrial 
education,  as  far  as  training  real  workmen  is  concerned,  is 
being  done  to-day  in  buildings  which  were  not  specifically 
erected  for  the  purpose  and  which  cannot  boast  any  so- 
called  architectural  beauty. 

The  equipment  started  with  should  be  the  minimum, 
and  no  better  training  could  be  given  than  that  which  is  to 
be  obtained  in  gradually  building  up  the  equipment  by  the 
work  of  the  students  themselves.  The  funds  could  be  bet- 
ter expended  in  payment  for  the  services  of  teachers  with 
sufficient  knowledge  and  skill  to  supervise  the  building  of 
equipment  than  in  providing  ready-made  equipment  which 
the  students  have  not  skill  to  use.  Which  will  produce  the 
better  results,  a  $20,000  equipment  and  a  $1000  teacher 
or  a  $10,000  equipment  and  a  $2000  teacher? 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    177 

Probably  the  greatest  danger  we  have  to  guard  against 
is  the  too  slavish  imitation  of  foreign  systems.  It  is  per- 
haps not  possible  to  treat  of  industrial  education  without 
some  consideration  being  given  to  the  plans  followed  and 
the  methods  pursued  in  Germany.  Owing  to  the  success 
of  that  country  in  the  industrial  world,  attention  has  been 
concentrated  on  her  system  of  education.  In  connection 
with  this,  certain  misconceptions  have  arisen,  and  we  are 
in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  salient  features  and  principles 
inherent  in  the  German  people  and  German  methods, 
which  features  and  principles  do  not  exist  in  the  same  form 
in  any  other  country  or  people. 

The  Germans  themselves  are  fully  alive  to  the  danger  of 
following  too  closely  the  methods  pursued  in  other  coun- 
tries. In  1904  a  German  commission  was  sent  to  the  United 
States  to  investigate  American  education,  and  in  the  course 
of  that  inquiry  they  paid  special  attention  to  the  industrial 
phases  of  it.  In  the  preface  to  the  report  made  by  this 
commission  is  to  be  found  the  following :  — 

The  school  system  of  a  country  is  part  of  its  culture.  It  is 
indissolubly  linked  with  its  historic  development,  its  economic 
and  political  condition.  Thus  the  American  school  system,  too, 
with  its  superiorities  and  defects,  is  conditioned  by  the  extremely 
rapid  economic  development  of  a  young  people,  the  democratic 
constitution  of  the  country,  its  mode  of  settlement,  the  peculiar 
mixture  of  its  population.  In  all  these  respects  we  live  under 
essentially  different  conditions.  If  we  would  learn  from  the 
Americans  we  should  try  less  to  imitate  one  or  other  success- 
ful measures  than  to  appropriate  sound  and  effective  ideas  of 
organization. 

When  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  above  quotation 
are  recognized  and  the  fullest  consideration  given  to  the 
fact  that  the  school  system  of  a  country  "is  indissolubly 
bound  up  with  its  historic  development,  its  economic  and 
political  condition,"  then,  and  then  only,  can  investiga- 
tions of  foreign  school  systems  bring  permanent  good  to 
the  country  instituting  the  investigation. 


178  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Probably  the  educational  system  of  Germany  has  re- 
ceived more  attention  from  American  investigators  than 
the  system  of  any  other  country,  and  it  is  time  attention 
was  called  to  several  mistakes  which  have  arisen  owing 
to  mistranslation  and  misunderstanding  of  words,  and  the 
assumption  that  the  German  term  necessarily  means  the 
same  as  the  corresponding  English  or  American  one.  We 
shall  also  call  attention  to  factors  in  industrial  education 
other  than  schools,  which  show  how  the  German  has  bent 
all  his  energies,  political,  social,  and  moral,  has  brought  all 
his  powers  into  play,  and  has  utilized  his  natural  genius 
for  order  and  system  to  accomplish  this  one  end,  —  indus- 
trial efficiency.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  describe  and  enu- 
merate the  different  types  of  schools  to  be  found  within 
the  limits  of  the  German  Empire.  This  has  been  done  ad 
nauseam. 

The  editor  of  the  "American  Machinist,"  from  whose 
paper  many  of  the  following  particulars  are  taken,  first 
called  attention  to  the  confusion  arising  from  the  assump- 
tion that  the  term  "trade  school"  as  used  in  America  has 
the  same  meaning  that  attaches  to  it  in  Germany.  A  trade 
school  according  to  the  American  conception  is  one  in- 
tended largely  to  take  the  place  of  apprenticeship,  and  to 
teach  the  trade  as  far  as  possible  in  the  same  way  as  it 
would  be  taught  in  the  shop,  giving  no  more  of  theory 
and  scientific  principles  than  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
working  of  the  machinery  required.  It  does  not  at  all 
affect  the  argument  that,  owing  to  the  present  agitation 
and  the  opposition  of  organized  labor  to  this  type  of  trade 
school,  a  new  type  is  being  evolved,  broader  in  its  scope 
and  wider  in  its  application. 

The  majority  of  our  people  believe  that  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  the  German  boy  learns  his  trade  in  a  school 
supported  at  the  public  expense.  The  average  American, 
whenever  he  can  turn  his  thoughts  from  baseball  or  mov- 
ing-picture shows,  thinks  that  the  German  boy  chooses  his 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    179 

trade  and  then  goes  into  a  school  to  learn  it.  It  is  true  that 
in  some  few  industries  such  as  watchmaking,  woodcarving, 
and  art  metal-work,  trade  schools  are  to  be  found,  but 
even  in  these  cases  they  only  supplement  and  never  take 
the  place  of  apprenticeship.  With  one  or  two  exceptions, 
due  to  local  conditions,  it  is  true  to  say  that  neither 
federal  nor  local  Governments  in  Germany  engage  in  the 
teaching  of  trades.  Actual  trade  teaching  is  more  com- 
mon in  London  or  Chicago  than  it  is  in  Berlin  or  any 
other  German  city.  In  America  industrial  education  is 
taken  quite  commonly  to  mean  definite  trade  teaching, 
in  Germany  it  is  not. 

Broadly  speaking,  there  are  in  Germany  two  classes  of 
industrial  schools,  one  designed  to  supplement  shop  work 
during  apprenticeship,  and  the  other  to  perform  the  same 
service  after  the  apprenticeship  has  been  completed.  Boys 
enter  upon  their  apprenticeship  at  fourteen  years  of  age, 
and  in  the  comparison  of  the  two  systems  this  most  impor- 
tant fact  must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The  work  of  the  "Con- 
tinuation School"  is  generally  done  in  the  evening,  though  in 
some  cases  it  is  taken  in  the  daytime  and  partly  on  Sunday, 
but  the  general  tendency  now  is  to  substitute  work  in  the 
daytime  for  that  previously  taken  in  the  evening.  Attend- 
ance at  these  schools  is  compulsory,  and  the  responsibility 
of  seeing  that  the  attendance  is  duly  made  is  thrown  upon 
the  employer.  The  purpose  of  these  schools  is  officially 
said  to  be  — 

(1)  To  supplement  the  general  education  gathered  in  the 
common  schools  with  such  practical  knowledge  as  will  be 
of  value  in  winning  a  livelihood. 

(2)  To  cultivate  the  sense  of  religion,  morality,  and 
patriotism. 

This  purpose  is  clearly  shown  by  the  curriculum  drawn 
up  for  each.  For  instance,  in  the  continuation  school  for 
business  apprentices  the  course  is  as  below. 


180 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  FOR  BUSINESS  APPRENTICES 


STUDIES 

HOURS  PER  WEEK 

Preparatory 
year 

! 
i 

s 

1 

>» 

>» 

1 
fl 

Religion    

1 

2 

3 
1 

1 

1 
2 

2 

1 
1 

2 
1 

1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

1 

1 
2 
1 

1 
1 

1 

2 
1 

Arithmetic  1  

Bookkeeping    

Banking  End  exchange  

Business  correspondence,  reading  2  

Commercial  geography  and  study  of  ma- 
terials 8  

Studies  in  life  and  citizenship  *  

Stenography  

Writing  

Total  ,  

8 

10 

10 

6 

1  All  the  problems  are  taken  from  the  actual  business  in  which  the  pupils  of  a  given  group 
are  engaged. 

*  Reading  is  general,  but  much  of  it  pertains  to  business  careers  and  to  the  particular  busi- 
ness in  which  the  pupils  are  engaged. 

*  The  raw  materials  and  also  the  manufactured  products  are  studied.  One  group,  instead 
of  this,  receives  instruction  in  money,  banking,  and  finance. 

*  Personal  and  public  hygiene;  duties,  rights,  and  opportunities  of  the  apprentice;  decorum; 
development  of  trade;  transportation  and  communication  in  Germany;  trade  organizations; 
capital  and  labor;  chamber  of  commerce,  and  industrial  exchange  ("Gewerbe  Kammer"); 
civics,  made  as  concrete  as  possible. 

The  course  of  study  in  the  school  for  basket  makers  at 
Lichtenfels,  Bavaria,  includes  the  following  subjects:  — 

German  language  and  commercial  papers,  grammar, 
reading,  correct  writing,  calligraphy,  industrial  calcula- 
tions, industrial  bookkeeping,  history  of  industry  and  bas- 
ket weaving,  freedom  of  industry,  organization  of  chambers 
of  commerce  and  industry,  industrial  legislation,  com- 
munities, social  and  economic  arrangements,  constitution 
of  state  and  empire,  geometrical  drawing  and  elements  of 
theory  of  projection,  freehand  drawing,  technical  drawing, 
workshop  instruction,  including  knowledge  of  materials, 
tools  and  appliances,  and  the  cultivation  of  osiers. 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    181 


The  course  for  carpenters  and  cabinet-makers  provides 
for  the  following:  — 

CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  FOR  CARPENTERS  AND 
CABINET-MAKERS 


SUBJECTS  OP  STUDY 

HOURS  PER  WEEK 

Winter 
half-year 

Summer 
half-year 

s3 

2  o 

03  +5 

Class  IV 

J3  2 
UHH 

Religion  

1 
1 
1 
1 

6 
3 

2 
2 

1 
1 

6 
6 

1 
1* 
1* 
1 

5 
1 

Arithmetic  and  bookkeeping  1  

Reading  and  business  composition  

Studies  in  life  and  citizenship   

Drawing 
(a)   Carpenters      

(6)    Cabinet-makers  

Practical  Technology  2 
(a)    Carpenters  

(6)    Cabinet-makers  

Total  :  (a)    Carpenters  

12 
9 

8 
8 

3 
9 

(b)    Cabinet-makers  

*  Alternately. 

1  As  before?  the  work  in  arithmetic  consists  of  the  actual  problems  of  the  trade  concerned, 
here  of  the  problems  actually  to  be  solved  by  carpenters  and  cabinet-makers. 
1  Study  of  woods,  tools,  machines,  and  their  care  and  uses. 

In  some  cases  preparatory  courses  are  provided,  and  these 
are  intended  for  those  elementary  school  pupils  who  com- 
plete only  the  seven  compulsory  grades  of  the  eight  public 
school  grades.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  industrial  educa- 
tion in  the  continuation  schools  of  Germany  means,  chiefly 
and  usually,  an  education  entirely  of  an  intellectual  c 
acter,  but  related  to  the  trade  or  industry  which  the  pup 
has  already  chosen  and  at  which  he  is  actually  working. 
No  student  is  admitted  to  the  second  class  of  schools  until 
he  has  actually  completed  his  regular  term  of  apprentice- 


182  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ship.  His  attendance  at  them  is  purely  voluntary  and  a 
small  fee  is  charged. 

The  "Trade  School  for  Machine  Builders"  is  a  literal 
translation  of  the  German  name,  "Die  Fach-schule  filr 
Machinebauer."  That  this  school  is  not  a  trade  school 
in  the  American  acceptation  of  the  term  is  shown  by  the 
subjects  taken.  These  are,  mathematics  and  mathemati- 
cal exercises,  physics,  chemistry,  technical  mechanics,  ma- 
chine elements  and  machine  study,  properties  of  mate- 
rials and  tools,  electrotechnics,  general  and  mechanical 
drawing. 

The  German  term  "Handwerkerschule"  means  "hand- 
worker school,"  and  is  a  school  to  be  attended  by  hand- 
workers and  not  necessarily  a  school  where  hand  work  is 
either  done  or  taught.  The  name  was  adopted  long  before 
there  was  any  thought  of  the  possibility  of  including  actual 
trade  work  in  a  school  curriculum.  The  schools  above 
described  are  essentially  improvement  schools. 

Even  hi  those  schools  which  have  a  workshop  equipment, 
a  student  must  have  completed  his  apprenticeship  before 
he  can  enter,  and  thepbject  is  to  offer  facilities  for  doing 
work  different  from  ttofr  he  has  been  doing  in  the  shop. 
None  of  these  schools  are  trade  schools.  They  have,  indeed, 
been  adversely  criticized  in  Germany  as  educating  men  out 
of  the  shops  rather  than  into  them.  No  matter  what  type 
of  school  is  examined,  the  recognition  of  the  intellectual 
side  of  the  industry  is  the  basis  on  which  the  course  of 
study  is  built. 

If  the  German  industries  are  better  supplied  with  skilled 
workmen  than  the  American  industries,  it  is  due  quite  as 
much  to  the  apprenticeship  system  as  to  the  educational 
system.  The  education  given  broadens  the  mind  and  gen- 
eral understanding  of  the  workmen,  but  it  does  not  increase 
their  number,  nor  does  it  add  to  their  mechanical  skill 
and  dexterity  except  indirectly  through  the  cultivation  of 
their  intelligence.  If,  then,  we  are,  according  to  the  general 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    183 

trend  of  public  discussion,  to  copy  Germany,  adequate 
attention  must  be  paid  to  its  apprenticeship  system  as  well 
as  to  its  educational  system.  Even  in  Munich,  where  the 
continuation  schools  are  best  developed,  there  are  over  six 
thousand  apprentices.  This  system  of  apprenticeship  as 
applied  in  Germany  is  a  serious  business.  The  contract  is 
not  regarded  lightly,  and  neither  party  can  break  it  except 
for  weighty  reasons. 

While  the  law  does  not  contemplate  or  prescribe  shop 
work,  a  municipality  or  other  authority  can  add  to  the 
prescribed  requirements,  and  hence  local  differences  arise. 
There  is  nothing  to  hinder  a  community  from  putting  hi 
shops  if  it  so  desires,  provided  it  is  willing  to  pay  the 
additional  expense  incurred.  Owing  to  this  local  freedom 
allowed  by  the  general  law,  the  schools  differ  in  method, 
character,  and  plan,  but  however  widely  they  differ  in  these 
points  their  aim  is  the  same.  They  travel  along  different 
roads,  but  they  have  the  same  goal  in  view,  and  that  is  the 
training  of  the  young  workmen  along  the  line  of  increased 
efficiency  as  citizens.  No  attempt  is  made  to  develop 
"skill"  nor  even  to  teach  a  specific  trade,  but  the  idea  is 
to  give  each  student  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the 
trade  and  its  function  in  the  community. 

One  would  think,  judging  from  the  American  eulogies  of 
the  German  system,  that  the  Germans  themselves  were 
thoroughly  satisfied;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  their  system 
is  the  subject  of  severe  criticism,  not  only  from  observant 
outsiders,  but  also  from  numerous  directions  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  empire  itself.  They  are  wrestling  with  the  same 
problems  as  are  the  American  people.  German  manufac- 
turers are  complaining  of  want  of  skill,  and  many  of  them 
are  adopting  systems  of  training  their  own  apprentices 
much  as  American  manufacturers  are  doing.  But  even  in 
this  particular  an  essential  difference  is  shown  from  the 
American  practice.  When  the  methods  of  training  adopted 
by  manufacturers  are  approved  by  the  educational  author- 


184  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

ities,  they  are  subsidized,  to  some  extent,  by  the  State,  and 
this  approval  relieves  the  young  apprentice  from  attend- 
ance at  the  regulation  continuation  school. 

The  German  people  are  also  confronted  with  the  prob- 
lem of  overcrowded  professions,  owing  to  the  prominence 
given  to  the  training  of  leaders  and  officers.  The  same 
mistake  is  being  made  in  America.  As  far  back  as  1886 
there  was  an  excess  of  more  than  one  thousand  unemployed 
graduates  in  engineering.  One  large  engineering  establish- 
ment found  it  necessary  to  display  a  sign  reading,  "No 
Polytechnic  need  apply." 

In  1890  the  German  Emperor  delivered  a  speech  be- 
fore the  Berlin  Conference  on  Secondary  Education.  He 
said:  — 

The  course  of  training  in  our  schools  is  defective  in  many  ways. 
The  chief  reason  is  that  since  1870  the  classical  philologists  have 
been  lodged  in  the  Gymnasium  as  beati  possidentes,  and  have  laid 
the  chief  emphasis  on  the  subject-matter  of  instruction  —  on 
learning  and  knowing  —  not  on  the  formation  of  character  and 
on  the  actual  needs  of  life.  .  .  .  The  demands  made  in  the  exami- 
nations show  that  less  stress  is  laid  on  practical  ability  than  on 
knowledge.  The  underlying  principle  of  this  is  that  the  scholar 
must,  above  all  things,  know  as  much  as  possible;  whether  that 
knowledge  fits  the  needs  of  after  life  is  a  secondary  consideration. 
If  one  talks  with  one  of  these  gentlemen  and  tries  to  explain  to 
him  that  the  youth  must  in  some  measure  be  practically  equipped 
at  school  for  actual  life  and  its  problems,  the  invariable  reply  is 
that  such  is  not  the  mission  of  the  school,  that  its  chief  concern  is 
the  training  of  the  mind  ("die  Gymnastic  des  Geistes")*  and  that! 
if  this  training  of  the  mind  is  rightly  ordered  the  young  man  is) 
placed  in  a  position  by  means  of  it  to  undertake  all  the  necessary) 
tasks  of  life.  I  think  that  we  cannot  go  on  acting  from  that  point 
of  view  any  longer.  .  .  .  Our  schools,  and  I  speak  more  especially 
of  the  Gymnasium,  have  undertaken  a  task  beyond  human 
strength,  and  have,  in  my  opinion,  caused  an  overproduction  of 
highly  educated  people  —  morejhan  Jthe  iiaiioiij^ 


Germany  is  paraded  before  us  as  a  country  in  which 
every  individual  is  fitted  by  the  State  for  the  part  he  is  to 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    185 

play  in  life,  and  this  is  to  some  extent  true.  But  when  we 
are  told  that  in  this  particular  we  should  set  to  work  in 
sober  earnest  and  imitate  their  methods  of  trying  to  bring 
about  this  result,  one  essential  difference,  which  makes 
such  imitation  impossible,  is  forgotten  —  the  American  is 
not  German. 

At  first  sight  one  cannot  help  feeling  great  admiration 
for  the  beautiful  machine  which  the  German  has  evolved. 
For  certain  purposes  and  along  certain  lines  the  machine 
does  excellent  work,  but  the  American  conception  of  free- 
dom would  not  flourish  in  such  a  soil.  Of  course,  in 
America,  freedom  is  too  apt  to  become  license,  but  even 
this  is  perhaps  more  to  be  desired  than  the  suppression  of 
all  freedom.  From  the  age  of  six  every  German  child  is 
captured  by  the  State  and  trained  on  the  assumption  that 
he  is  to  fill  a  certain  fixed  place  in  the  national  machine. 
That  place  is  generally  definitely  decided  at  the  age  of  ten. 
Each  school  and  each  type  of  school  is  designed  for  man- 
ufacturing certain  parts  and  wheels  and  cogs  of  this  ma- 
chine. If  the  pupils  or  their  parents  were  free  to  choose 
according  to  mental  ability  or  capacity,  not  much  adverse 
criticism  could  be  offered;  but  caste,  class  distinctions, 
and  financial  considerations  are  largely  the  principles 
which  determine  whether  the  pupil  shall  enter  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  school.  Of  course,  even  in  Germany  nature 
sometimes  refuses  to  be  bound,  and  we  hear  of  boys 
and  men  who  have  been  strong  enough  to  break  the  fet- 
ters which  would  shackle  them;  but  the  freedom  of  move- 
ment, either  within  a  class,  or  from  one  class  to  another, 
that  is  so  common  in  America,  is  seldom  heard  of  in 
Germany. 

Both  American  and  German  schools  are  designed  to  pro- 
duce good  citizens,  but  the  ideals  of  citizenship  held  by  the 
two  peoples  differ  widely.  The  German  subordinates  the 
rights  of  the  individual  to  the  demands  of  the  community. 
The  American  recognizes  the  rights  of  the  individual,  and 


186  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

offers  every  facility  for  the  development  of  the  gifts  he  pos- 
sesses. The  German  has  not  yet  recognized  that,  unless  the 
individual  be  allowed  his  fullest  growth,  his  service  to  the 
community  will  be  lessened  to  the  extent  that  his  growth  is 
restricted.  The  German  reverences  law,  order,  and  prop- 
erly constituted  authority.  The  American  tolerates  them. 
The  German  workman  will  do  what  he  is  told  to  do,  with- 
out giving  much  thought  to  the  reasonableness  of  the  order. 
The  American  workman  wishes  to  be  convinced  of  the 
effect  of,  and  the  basis  for,  the  order  before  he  dreams  of 
carrying  it  out,  and  even  then  he  will  do  it  in  his  own 
way.  The  German  is  dependent,  the  American  independ- 
ent. The  German  acts  first  and  thinks  afterwards.  The 
American  thinks  first  and  acts  afterwards,  if  he  wishes. 
The  American  recognizes  the  liberty  of  each  personality. 
The  German  ignores  the  individual  and  considers  the 
State  supreme. 

The  military  system  has  done  much  towards  bringing 
about  the  national  attitude  of  the  German  mind.  For  one, 
two,  or  three  years  every  able-bodied  German  must  pass 
through  the  ranks.  Elementary  school  teachers,  candidates 
for  that  position  and  others  who  reach  a  certain  standard 
of  education,  are  only  liable  to  one  year's  voluntary  service. 
The  "certificate  of  exemption  from  military  service"  is  a 
recognized  standard  by  which  applicants  for  various  indus- 
trial positions  can  be  measured.  This  system  seems 
admitted  to  be  of  distinct  educational  value  to  the  individ- 
ual and  of  considerable  industrial  value  to  the  nation.  The 
effect  on  the  physical  side  is  great  and  its  general  moral 
influence  is  seen  in  the  shop  at  every  turn.  Masters  and 
men  have  gone  through  the  same  training  together,  and 
have  learned  that  order,  system,  and  discipline  are  just 
as  necessary  in  industrial  affairs  as  they  are  in  military 
operations.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  military  serv- 
ice has  played  a  great  part  in  the  making  of  industrial 
Germany. 


MISINTERPRETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    187 

If  we  were  to  adopt  the  whole  organization  of  the  Ger- 
man system,  there  would  still  be  something  lacking  with- 
out which  success  could  not  be  achieved,  and  that  is  the 
spirit  of  the  German  people.  We  need  not  so  much  the 
imitation  of  certain  specific  institutions  as  the  inculcation 
of  the  spirit  and  purpose  which  has  fostered  them. 

The  London  "Times"  Commissioner,  who  in  1903  con- 
ducted a  thorough  investigation  of  the  industrial  conditions 
in  Germany,  says :  — 

The  secret  does  not  lie  in  this  thing  or  that,  as  we  are  so  often 
told,  nor  can  it  be  formulated  under  two  or  three  heads  or  half  a 
dozen;  but  it  can  be  compressed  into  one  word  —  work.  Not 
work  in  one  or  two  directions  by  one  or  two  classes,  but  work  all 
round  from  top  to  bottom  —  from  the  Kaiser  to  the  workshop 
apprentice.  The  Germans  have  been  forced  to  become  a  manu- 
facturing and  exporting  nation  in  order  to  support  themselves. 
They  have  deliberately  bent  all  their  energies  to  the  task;  have 
brought  their  best  mental  gifts  —  science,  order,  method,  fore- 
thought —  to  bear  upon  it,  and  have  spared  no  pains  or  sacrifice 
to  accomplish  it. 

First,  the  Government.  It  has  always  kept  in  view  the  duty  of 
fostering  industries,  and  it  never  misses  a  point  or  loses  a  chance 
in  fostering  them.  Hence  the  judicious  factory  legislation,  the 
great  insurance  scheme,  the  educational  system  (which  really  is 
a  "system  "),  and  the  carefully  devised  tariff,  with  numerous 
minor  points  of  policy,  both  active  and  passive. 

Then  the  manufacturers.  They  have  pushed  resolutely  for- 
ward point  by  point,  taking  advantage  of  everything  that  might 
help  them:  they  have  studied  the  market  with  ceaseless  vigilance; 
they  have  encouraged  advance  by  scientific  research,  artistic 
training,  and  manual  skill;  they  have  sent  their  young  men  wher- 
ever they  could  best  learn;  they  have  provided  good  working 
conditions,  and  have  supported  innumerable  institutions  for  the 
welfare  of  their  work-people. 

The  traders  have  been  no  less  active  in  their  way,  and  the 
teachers  of  all  grades  have  brought  equal  diligence  and  capacity 
to  bear  upon  their  important  functions.  The  general  body  of  citi- 
zens have  contributed  indirectly  to  the  general  result  through  the 
faithful  exercise  of  municipal  duties,  the  poor-law  administration 
and  the  numerous  institutions  such  as  labor  registries,  all  of  which 
tend  to  the  well-being  and  efficiency  of  labor. 


188  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 

Over  the  entrance  to  some  large  works  in  Nuremberg, 
inscribed  on  a  marble  tablet  in  letters  of  gold,  is  the  follow- 
ing inscription :  — 

"What  work  has  won 
Work  will  retain 
Through  the  long  centuries. 
Thus  God  decrees." 

The  discussion  of  educational  questions  in  Germany  is 
not  hindered  by  misapprehension  and  misunderstanding 
owing  to  confusion  of  terms.  The  nomenclature  is  accurate, 
and  everybody  knows  exactly  what  is  meant  and  included 
in  the  name  of  any  type  of  school.  In  referring  to  this,  the 
United  States  Deputy  Consul  at  Chemnitz  says,  "This  cer- 
tainty removes  all  danger  of  a  waste  of  energy  and  time 
in  misunderstood  discussions,  false  criticisms,  misappre- 
hensions, and  a  general  useless  and  wasteful  cross-line  fire 
between  educational  reformers." 

As  Ernest  C.  Meyer  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  has 
said:  — 

She  does  not  neglect  and  expose  labor  to  the  ravages  of  disease; 
she  does  not  neglectfully  expose  labor  to  economic  destruction 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  accident  and  sickness  and  invalidity; 
she  does  not  neglectfully  expose  labor  to  brutal  exploitation  on 
the  part  of  reckless  corporations;  she  does  not  neglectfully  expose 
labor  to  wanton  destruction  of  life  in  the  mines  and  in  the  factor- 
ies. Hand  in  hand  with  that  grand  system  of  industrial  education 
went  the  development  of  those  institutions  necessary  for  the  con- 
servation of  the  industrial  man.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  industrial 
values  be  merely  created;  if  a  nation  is  to  have  lasting  benefit 
therefrom,  they  must  be  scrupulously  preserved. 

We  must  learn  from  Germany  that  the  problem  of  indus- 
trial education  is  to  be  approached  and  attacked  from  all 
sides.  If  we  would  succeed  we  too  must  do  outside  the 
schools  a  number  of  things  that  make  for  industrial  progress 
that  we  are  in  the  greatest  danger  of  forgetting,  and  with- 
out which  any  system  of  industrial  education  will  largely 
fail  of  its  full  measure  of  success.  We  must  give  much 


MISINTERPEETATION  OF  FOREIGN  SYSTEMS    189 

attention  to  the  conservation  of  natural  resources,  but  like 
Germany,  while  devoting  the  fullest  consideration  to  the 
conservation  of  our  forests,  our  soils,  and  other  products  of 
nature,  we  must  concern  ourselves  most  particularly  with 
the  conservation  of  the  man.  And,  finally,  the  deeper  les- 
son to  be  learned  from  Germany  is  revealed  by  the  fact  that 
she  devotes  more  attention  than  any  other  nation  in  the 
world  to  the  protection  of  the  industrial  worker. 


THE  END 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  A 

RESOLUTIONS  ^ADOPTED  BY  THE  NATIONAL  ASSO- 
CIATION OF  MANUFACTURERS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA,  MAY  31,  1912 

THE  series  of  resolutions  adopted  by  the  National  Association  of 
Manufacturers  of  the  United  States  of  America  is  probably  the 
most  comprehensive  statement  of  our  educational  deficiencies, 
and  the  remedies  therefor,  ever  made.  For  this  reason  those 
resolutions  are  here  quoted.  They  also  summarize  to  a  very  large 
extent  the  arguments  made  in  the  preceding  pages. 

WHEREAS,  one-half  of  the  children  in  the  common  schools  of  the  United 
States  leave  school  by  the  end  of  the  sixth  grade,  with  no  substantial 
education  requirements  beyond  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  in  their 
simpler  forms,  the  essentials  of  education  and  citizenship  coming,  if  at  all, 
after  the  sixth  grade;  and 

WHEREAS,  this  half  of  the  children  soon  forget  much  of  what  they 
learned  in  their  brief  school  experience,  and 

WHEREAS,  truancy  and  absence  are  so  prevalent  that  less  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  children  are  in  school  as  much  as  three-fourths  of  the  time, 
the  enrollment  being  17,000,000  and  the  average  attendance  being  under 
12,000,000,  1,600,000  being  permanently  absent  from  and  unacquainted 
with  school  life;  and 

WHEREAS,  illiteracy  in  the  United  States  is  fifty  times  that  of  several 
Continental  countries  and  is  four  times  greater  among  the  children  of 
native  whites  than  among  the  native-born  children  of  immigrants;  and 

WHEREAS,  in  many  schools  and  many  cities  educators  are  finding  great 
cultural  and  educational  value  in  the  development  of  the  motor  activi- 
ties, the  practical  and  creative  desires  of  the  youth,  in  highly  developed 
practical  and  extended  courses  in  manual  and  prevocational  training,  and 
such  courses  are  developing,  in  an  unexpected  degree,  an  appreciation  of 
the  dignity  of  labor  of  all  kinds,  and  such  moral  qualities  as  diligence,  con- 
centration, perseverance,  and  respect,  and  causing  many  to  successfully 
continue  in  school  who  otherwise  would  leave  discouraged  early  in  the 
course;  and 

WHEREAS,  a  majority  of  the  children  who  leave  school  prematurely  do 
so  from  no  economic  need,  and  in  fact  are  idle  about  half  the  time  between 
their  fourteenth  and  sixteenth  years,  being  the  first  two  years  out  of  school 
and  average  for  the  first  two  years  little  over  two  dollars  per  week  in 
earnings,  leaving  school  principally  because  their  interest  in  practical  and 
creative  effort  is  not  provided  for;  and 


194  APPENDIX   A 

WHEREAS,  the  loss  to  the  schools  of  fifty  per  cent  of  the  children  in  the 
middle  of  the  elementary  school  courses  is  an  incalculable  waste  of  the 
human  resources  of  the  nation,  these  human  resources  being  estimated  by 
Professor  Fisher  as  of  the  economic  value  of  $250,000,000,000,  and  five 
times  the  value  of  all  our  other  natural  resources  combined; 

Therefore,  for  these  and  other  reasons,  the  National  Association  of 
Manufacturers  by  resolution  pledges  its  earnest  support  of  the  following 
principles  of  educational  betterment  as  essential  to  society  and  to  the 
spiritual,  social,  and  physical  welfare  of  the  youth:  — 

1.  Continuation  schools  for  that  half  of  the  children  who  leave  school 
at  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  mostly  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades,  these 
continuation  schools  to  be  liberally  cultural  and  at  the  same  time  to  be 
extremely  practical  and  related  as  directly  as  possible  to  the  occupations 
in  which  the  several  students  are  engaged. 

2.  The  development  of  a  modern  apprenticeship  system  wherein  by 
contract  the  respective  and  equal  rights  of  employer  and  employee  are 
fully  recognized,  the  entire  trade  is  taught,  together  with  such  other 
subjects  as  are  essential  to  good  citizenship. 

3.  The  development  of  secondary  continuation  or  trade  schools,  by 
which  the  more  efficient  of  the  great  army  of  boys  and  girls  who  will  enter 
the  continuation  schools  may  progress  from  these  lower  continuation 
schools,  as  in  some  other  countries,  to  the  foremost  places  in  industry  and 
commerce. 

4.  Compulsory  education  through  adolescence,  being  until  the  seven- 
teenth or  eighteenth  year,  attendance  being  in  the  all-day  school  until  the 
fourteenth  year,  and  thereafter  in  either  the  all-day  schools  or  in  the  con- 
tinuation schools  for  not  less  than  one-half  day  per  week,  without  loss  of 
wages  for  hours  in  school. 

5.  The  strengthening  of  all  truancy  laws  and  the  development  of  public 
sentiment  in  support  thereof. 

6.  The  training  of  teachers  in  thoroughgoing  methods  of  industrial 
practice,  including  as  part  of  such  training  extended  experience  hi  actual 
shop  work. 

7.  The   establishment   of   independent   State   and   local   boards   of 
industrial  education  consisting  of  one-third  each,  professional  educa- 
tors, employers  and  employees,  thereby  insuring,  as  in  the  more  success- 
ful European  countries,  the  proper  correlation  of  the  schools  and  the 
industries. 

8.  The  development  of  the  vocational  and  creative  desires  of  the  con- 
crete, or  hand-minded  children  now  in  the  grades,  discouraged,  anxious 
to  quit,  and  often  called  backward,  only  because  the  education  now 
tendered  them  is  abstract  and  misfit. 

9.  The  establishment  of  shop  schools  and  part-time  schools  whenever 
practicable. 

10.  The  establishment  of  departments  or  centres  of  vocational  guidance 
so  that  the  great  majority  of  the  children  who  now  enter  industry  at  four- 
teen with  no  direction,  85  per  cent  falling  into  the  "blind  alley"  occupa- 
tions, may,  with  the  reversal  of  these  figures,  as  in  some  other  countries, 


APPENDIX   A  195 

enter,  under  advice,  intelligently  and  properly  into  the  progressive  and 
improving  occupations. 

Resolved,  By  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers,  that  it  is  the 
imperative  need  of  the  industrial  workers  and  employers  of  the  country 
that  thoroughgoing  systems  of  industrial  education  be  everywhere  estab- 
lished, so  that  our  factories  may  be  more  constantly  and  better  employed; 
that  standards  of  skill  and  of  output  may  increasingly  be  improved,  and 
that  foreign  and  domestic  markets  may  be  better  held  and  extended. 


APPENDIX  B 

LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES  CONSULTED 

Education  for  Industrial  Purposes.  Dr.  John  Seath,  Superinten- 
dent of  Education  for  the  Province  of  Ontario.   390  pp.  A 
Report  made  to  the  Minister  of  Education. 
Examples   of  Industrial   Education.  Frank   Mitchell   Leavitt. 

Ginn  &  Co.:  Boston.   1912. 

Art  and  Industry.  Education  in  the  Industrial  and  Fine  Arts  in 
the  United  States.  Isaac  Edward  Clarke,  A.M.  4  vols.  Wash- 
ington, 1885-98. 
Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of   Education  for   the   United 

States. 

Bulletins  of  the  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington;  particularly  — 
Education  for  Efficiency  in  Railroad  Service.    1909.  No.  10. 
German  Views  of  American  Education  with  particular  refer- 
ence to  Industrial  Development.   1906.  No.  2. 
Current  Educational  Topics.   1912.  No.  11. 
The  Elimination  of  Pupils  from  School.   1907.  No.  4. 
The  Apprenticeship  System  in  its  Relation  to  Industrial 

Education.   1908.  No.  6. 

The  Auxiliary  Schools  of  Germany.   1907.  No.  3. 
The  Continuation  School    in    the  United    States.    1907. 

No.  1. 

The  Problem  of  Vocational  Education.  David  Snedden. 
The  Vocational  Guidance  of  Youth.  Meyer  Bloomfield. 
The  People's  School.  Ruth  M.  Weeks. 

The  above  are  published  in  the  "Riverside  Educational 
Monographs."     Houghton    Mifflin    Company:   Boston    and 
Chicago. 
Democratic  Ideals  in  Education.    R.  E.  Hughes.  Charles  & 

Dible:  London.    1905. 

Addresses  and  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion, 1901-11. 

Industrial  Education  in  Schools  for  Rural  Communities.  Re- 
port of  Committee  of  National  Education  Association.    1905. 
Place  of  Industries  in  Public  Instruction.  Report  of  Committee 
of  National  Education  Association.   1910. 


APPENDIX  B  197 

The  Labor  Exchange  in  Relation  to  Boy  and  Girl  Labor.  Fred- 
erick Keeling.  P.  S.  King  &  Son:  London. 
Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission  on  Industrial  and 

Technical  Education. 

Reports  and  Bulletins  of  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 
Washington;  especially  — 

Report  for  1892.  Industrial  Education. 
Report  for  1902.  Trade  and  Technical  Education. 
Report  for  1910.  Industrial  Education. 
Revival  of  Handicraft  in  America.    Bulletin  No.  55,  Nov- 
ember, 1904. 

Conditions  of  Entrance  to  Trades.    Bulletin  No.  67,  Nov- 
ember, 1906. 

Industrial  Education  and  Industrial  Conditions  in  Germany. 
Special  Consular  Reports.    Vol.  33.    1905. 
Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 

Vol.  33,  January  to  June,  1909. 
Trades  for  London  Boys  and  How  to  Enter  Them. 
Trades  for  London  Girls  and  How  to  Enter  Them. 

Compiled  by  the  London   (England)  Apprenticeship  and 

Skilled  Employment  Association. 

A  Rational  Apprenticeship  System.  R.  V.  Wright.  Reprint 
from  the  American  Engineer  and  Railroad  Journal,  June,  July, 
September,  October,  November,  1907. 

Bulletins  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Indus- 
trial Education;  particularly  — 

No.  1.  Proceedings  of  the  Organization  Meetings. 
No.  3.   A  Symposium  on  Industrial  Education. 
Nos.  5,  6.  Proceedings  of  the  First  Annual  Meeting. 
No.  9.  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual  Meeting. 
No.  10.  Proceedings  of  the  Third  Annual  Meeting. 
No.  13,  Part  2.  Apprenticeship  and  Corporation  Schools. 
Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States.   1910. 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Education  of  the  Syracuse  Chamber 

of  Commerce.   1908. 

Calendars  of  Municipal  School  of  Technology.  Manchester  (Eng- 
land). 
Apprenticeship  Bulletin.  A  monthly  publication  of  the  School 

of  Printing,  North  End  Union.  Boston. 
Education  for  Efficiency.    Eugene  Davenport.  Heath:  Boston. 

1909. 

Industrial  Improvement  Schools  of  Wurtemberg.  Albert  A. 
Snowden,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 


198  APPENDIX  B 

The  Worker,  and  the  State.  Arthur  D.  Dean.  Century  Com- 
pany: New  York.  1910. 

The  New  Movement  in  Education.  H.  Thiselton  Mark.  Charles 
&  Dible:  London  (England).  1904. 

Industrial  Education;  a  system  of  training  for  men  entering  upon 
trade  and  commerce.  Harlow  Stafford  Person.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company:  Boston. 

Recent  Industrial  Progress  of  Germany.  Earl  Dean  Howard. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company :  Boston.  1907. 

Technical  Education  in  Evening  Schools.  Clarence  H.  Creasey. 
Swan,  Sonnenscheine  &  Company:  London  (England). 

Made  in  Germany.  E.  E.  Williams.  William  Heinemann :  Lon- 
don (England). 

Continuation  Schools  in  England  and  Elsewhere.  M.  E.  Sadler. 
University  Press:  Manchester  (England).  1908. 

Industrial  Efficiency.  Arthur  Shadwell.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co. 
1909. 

American  Machinist.  A  trade  monthly,  periodically  containing 
valuable  articles  on  various  phases  of  the  question. 

Our  Children,  Our  Schools,  and  Our  Industries.  Andrew  S. 
Draper,  New  York  State  Commissioner  of  Education.  1908. 

Industrial  Democracy.  Beatrice  and  Sidney  Webb.  Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.:  New  York.  1902. 

Report  of  Mosely  Educational  Commission  to  the  United  States, 
October-December,  1903.  Cooperative  Printing  Society:  Lon- 
don. 

Industrial  Education.  Report  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor.  1910. 

Educational  Foundations  of  Trade  and  Industry.  Fabian  Ware. 
D.  Appleton&Co.:New  York.  1901. 

Education  and  Industry  in  the  United  States.  H.  Thiselton  Mark. 

Special  Reports,  English  Board  of  Education.  Vol.  11,  Part  2. 

Vocational  Education  in  Europe.  Edwin  G.  Cooley.  Report  to 
the  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago.  1912. 

Manual  Training  Magazine,  Vocational  Education.  Bi-monthly 
magazines  published  by  Manual  Arts  Press,  Peoria,  Illinois. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ABILITY  and  initiative,  170. 

Absentees,  looking  after,  113. 

Adolescent  labor,  19. 

Adolescents,  compulsory  attendance 
of,  95,  96. 

Advertising,  108;  examples  of  post- 
ers used  for,  110,  111. 

Advisory  industrial  committees,  118. 

Advocacy,  intemperate,  67. 

Age  of  entry  into  industries,  164. 

"  America,**  definition  of,  10. 

American  and  German  systems, 
differences  between,  185,  186. 

American  Federation  of  Labor,  34, 
79. 

American  Machinist,  178. 

Apprentices,  not  desired  by  employ- 
ers, 133;  boys  do  not  desire  to 

\  become,  135;  journeymen  do  not 
desire  to  instruct,  135;  selection 
of,  140;  satisfactory  wages  to, 
141;  adequate  instruction  of,  142; 
progress  through  the  shop  of,  143; 
Government  regulation  of,  143; 
direction  out  of  working  hours  of, 
145;  private  schools  for  instruc- 
tion of,  147. 

Apprenticeship,  revival  of,  34,  146; 
decline  of,  131;  said  to  be  dead, 

l-  127;  old  system  of  produced  skill, 
128;  undesirable  features  of  old, 
1 130;  in  small  towns,  9;  length  of, 
136, 142;  for  the  industrial  special- 
ist, 139;  law  in  Switzerland,  144; 
law  in  Wisconsin,  144;  Summer, 
;  160;  system  in  Germany,  182, 
183;  boy  does  not  wish  to  be 
bound  to,  136. 

Apprenticeship    and    Skilled    Em- 

>.  ploy  men  t  Association,  149;  man- 
ual of,  152. 


Arguments  designed  to  satisfy  labor 
organizations,  61. 

Arithmetic,  taught  industrially,  49, 
50;  Ludlow  Textile,  50. 

Art,  23,  24;  German  criticism  of 
instruction  in,  24. 

Assembly-room,  44. 

Attendance,  compulsory  at  evenr 
ing  schools,  95;  in  primary  schools 
of  Ontario,  13;  in  schools  of 
United  States,  13;  in  Manchester, 
14;  in  Germany,  14;  xjifficulty  of 
securing,  81;  percentag^  of,  in 
evening  schools,  94;  reasons  for 
discontinuance  of,  103. 

Authorities  consulted,  196. 

Ayres,  Dr.,  18. 

Baron  de  Hirsch  Trade  School,  166. 

Birmingham,  152; 

Boston,  155;  Annual  Report  of 
School  Committee  of,  160;  North 
End  Union  School  of  Printing, 
166,  167. 

"Bread  and  butter**  education,  19. 

Buildings,  elaborate,  175,  176. 

^Burks,  Jesse  D.,  63. 

Bursaries  and  scholarships,  Man- 
chester, 85. 

Butler,  Nicholas  Murray,  21. 

Cincinnati,  O.,  87. 

Classification  of  students,  100,  101. 

Commissions  and  investigations,  6, 
7. 

Commission,  Massachusetts,  29,  61. 

Community  work  in  manual  train- 
ing, 70. 

Compulsion,  58. 

Compulsory  laws,  non-enforcement 
of,  14. 


202 


INDEX 


Cooperation,  between  small  towns, 
122;  between  all  interests  con- 
cerned, 86. 

Cooperative  plan  of  industrial  edu- 
cation, 87;  American  Federation 
of  Labor  on,  88;  opposition  of 
organized  labor  to,  87. 

Correspondence  schools,  119;  study 
department  of  University  of  Wis- 
consin, 120,  121 ;  course  of  Inter- 
national Typographical  Union, 
121. 

Cost  check.  Pueblo,  California, 
69. 

Course  of  study,  veneration  for,  18; 
reorganization  of,  45,  46. 

Cultural  and  vocational  subjects, 
19,  21;  no  vital  conflict  between, 
40. 

Curricula  of  German  industrial 
schools,  180,  181. 

Davenport,  Dean,  52. 

Day  and  evening  school  teaching, 

purpose  of,  105. 
Dean,  Arthur,  12,  126. 
Decision    regarding    boys'    future 

should  be  made  earlier,  165. 
Delinquents,  31,  32. 
Discussions,  4,  5. 
Dodge,  James  M.,  168. 
Draper,  Dr.  Andrew  S.,  32,  175. 
Drifting  from  one  occupation  to 

another,  31,  32. 

Economic  losses  through  industrial 
incapacity,  169. 

Edinburgh,  152. 

Education,  business  of,  5;  ceases  at 
end  of  elementary  school  course, 
15;  formal  aim  versus  material  aim 
in,  50;  main  purpose  of,  75;  busi- 
ness methods  applied  to,  97;  of 
the  parent,  163;  right  kind  of, 
170;  sound  and  efficient  element- 
ary and  secondary,  119. 

Educational,  propaganda,  6;  sys- 
tems aristocratic,  8;  loss  during 


holidays,  47;  tradition,  opposition 
of,  63. 

Eight-hour  day,  97. 

Employer  and  employee,  mutual 
duties  of,  169. 

Employers,  interest  of,  suspected 
by  labor,  164. 

Equipment,  minimum,  176;  costly 
and  elaborate,  175,  176. 

Essay,  purpose  of,  10,  11. 

Evening  schools,  25,  26;  craze  for 
large  numbers  in,  92;  percentage 
of  attendance  in,  94;  defects  of 
instruction  in,  94,  95;  compulsory 
attendance  at,  95;  English  regu- 
lations for,  103;  selection  of  teach- 
ers for,  104, 105;  purpose  of  teach- 
ing in,  105;  as  social  centres,  112; 
small  classes  in,  112;  failure  of,  26. 

Exemption,  raising  age  of,  12,  13. 

Expenditure,  in  United  States,  14; 
in  Canada,  14;  inadequate  returns 
from,  27;  on  industrial  schools, 
88,  89,  91. 

Factories,  visits  to,  56. 

Farm,  leaving  the,  30. 

Fees,  109. 

Foreign  systems,  misinterpretation 
of,  36. 

Formal  versus  material  aim  in  edu- 
cation, 50. 

Geography,  taught  industrially,  51. 

Germany,  apprenticeship  system  in, 
182, 183;  dissatisfaction  with  own 
system,  183;  speech  of  Emperor 
of,  184;  system  a  beautiful  ma- 
chine, 185;  system  contrasted 
with  American,  185, 186;  military 
system  of,  186;  Times  Commis- 
sioners report  on,  187;  lessons  to 
be  learned  from,  188,  189;  two 
classes  of  industrial  schools  in, 
179. 

Government  intervention  in  labor 
concerns,  145. 

Grading,  faulty,  18. 


INDEX 


203 


Guidance  in  selection  of  subjects, 

100. 
Guilds,  old  trade,  128;  functions  of 

Austrian,  129. 

Hale,  Chief  Justice,  4. 

Hand  work,  more  required,  55. 

"Handwerkerschule,"  182. 

High  schools,  do  not  meet  the  needs 
of  workers,  76. 

History,  taught  industrially,  51. 

Hoar,  Pres.  Leonard,  4. 

Household  science,  71;  measures 
necessary  to  vitalize,  71,  72;  com- 
plete apartment  or  flat  in  teach- 
ing, 72. 

Housewifery,  71. 

Imitation  of  foreign  systems,  177. 

Industrial  education,  antiquity  of 
the  subject,  3;  hazy  notions  of,  5; 
definition  of,  10;  has  its  roots  in 
primary  education,  21 ;  has  grown 
out  of  manual  training,  22;  aims 
and  objects  of,  37,  38;  coopera- 
tive plan  of,  87;  contributions  of 
Federal  Governments  to,  90. 

Industrial  elasticity,  171. 

Industrial  schools,  general  and 
special,  77;  not  a  refuge  for  the 
mentally  weak,  80,  81;  functions 
of,  92;  textbooks  for,  114;  expen- 
ditures on,  88,  89,  91. 

Industrial  training  gives  increased 
earning  power,  116. 

Industrial  specialist,  135,  136. 

Industry,  boys'  dislike  of,  29,  30; 
prejudice  against,  10,  163;  popu- 
lar conception  of,  10. 

Inexperience  of  teachers,  16. 

Initiative  and  ability,  170. 

Instruction,  visual,  57;  in  industrial 
opportunities,  56. 

Investigations  and  Commissions,  6, 
7. 

Labor,  boy  and  girl,  31;  Exchange 
Act  (England),  151;  the  asset  of 


the  worker,  163;  subdivision  of, 
9,  132;  opposed  to  trade  schools, 
88;  American  Federation  of,  34. 

Lawrence  Scientific  School,  4. 

Leaving  school,  early  age  of.  29. 

Leeds,  116. 

Lessons,  printed  or  typewritten,  113. 

Libraries,  55. 

Limited  time  available,  46,  47. 

Literature,  4. 

Locke,  4. 

London,  152. 

Machine  labor  for  hand  labor,  sub- 
stitution of,  131. 

Maintenance  allowances,  34. 

Manchester,  117;  attendance  in,  14; 
Education  Committee  of,  72; 
scholarships  and  bursaries  in,  85. 

Manhattan  Trade  School  for  girls, 
33. 

Manual  training,  22,  59;  high 
schools,  59;  its  failure  to  give  voca- 
tional training,  60;  in  elementary 
schools,  60;  not  taken  seriously  by 
the  people,  60;  here  to  stay,  61; 
the  basis  of  industrial  education, 
62;  methods  foreign  to  the  shop, 
63,  64;  development  of,  64;  re- 
stricted to  work  in  wood,  65; 
limited  ability  of  teachers  of,  65; 
ideal  teacher  of,  66;  Ontario  regu- 
lations for  training  teachers  of, 
66;  intemperate  advocacy  of,  67; 
ordinary  teacher's  lack  of  inter- 
est in,  67;  community  work  in, 
70;  changed  attitude  of  teachers 
toward,  71;  measures  necessary 
to  vitalize,  74;  use  of  time  and 
material  in,  68. 

Manufacturers,  National  Associa- 
tion of,  193. 

Manufacturers'  attitude,  employ- 
ees' idea  of,  99. 

Maxwell,  Superintendent  of  New 
York  schools,  62. 

Mechanics,  universities,  3;  recruited 
from  elementary  schools,  12. 


204 


INDEX 


Methods,  more  practical  required, 

73. 

Meyer,  Ernest  C..  188. 
Mistakes  made  in  the  promotion  of 

industrial  education,  175. 
Montrose,  114. 
Museums,  trade,  123,  124,  125. 

New  York,  155;  Manhattan  Trade 
School,  33;  Superintendent  Max- 
well, 62. 

Newton  Independent  Industrial 
School,  80,  86. 

North  End  School  of  Printing, 
Boston,  166,  167. 

Numbers,  craze  for  large,  in  evening 
schools,  92. 

Occupations,  indiscriminate  choice 
of,  35. 

Opportunities  in  industry,  instruc- 
tion in,  56. 

Organization,  in  the  one  industry 
town,  114;  in  towns  with  varied 
industries,  114;  in  Montrose,  115; 
in  the  large  city,  116;  in  Leeds, 
116;  in  Manchester,  117. 

Parents,  attitude  of,  27,  28;  obso- 
lete authority  of,  29;  financial 
condition  of,  33;  education  of, 
163. 

Pitt,  William,  4. 

Population,  distribution  of,  9; 
growth  of,  131. 

Problem,  industrial,  various  aspects 
of  the,  12. 

Product,  value  of  the  finished,  43; 
disposal  of  the,  83,  84. 

Propaganda,  educational,  6. 

Prosperity,  too  much,  165. 

Public,  attitude  of,  5,  6. 

Reading,   taught   industrially,  47, 

48. 

Reforms,  necessary,  45. 
"Repeaters,*'  cause  of,  16. 
Roberts,  W.  E.,  55. 


Rochdale  Education  Committee,  98. 
Rochester  factory  or  shop  school, 
77,  84,  86. 

Salaries,  57. 

Scholarships  and  maintenance  allow- 
ances, of  London  County  Council, 
82;  in  Manchester,  85. 

Schools,  new  type  of,  68;  length  of 
course  in,  32,  33;  regarded  as  a 
business  concern,  43;  use  of  the 
whole  building,  44,  45;  Spring 
Valley,  Polk  County,  Neb.,  52, 
53,  54;  length  of  session  in,  109, 
112;  traveling,  122,  123;  winter, 
for  unemployed  workmen,  123; 
length  of  day  in,  78;  leaving  be- 
fore completion  of  course,  79; 
conditions  in,  different  from  those 
of  the  shop,  68. 

Science,  industrial,  50. 

Seath,  Dr.  John,  13. 

Sharing  advantages  between  em- 
ployer and  employee,  99. 

Shoe  industry,  inquiry  into,  156. 

Silence  maintained  on  certain  ques- 
tions, 8. 

Skilled  labor  essential,  171,  172. 

Sorting  children  thought  to  be  un- 
democratic, 76. 

Specialist,  professional  versus  indus- 
trial, 135,  136. 

Statistics,  vital,  57. 

Students,  classification  of,  100,  101. 

Subjects,  method  of  presentation  of, 
101,  102. 

Switzerland,  apprenticeship  law  in, 
144. 

Teachers,  inexperience  of,  16;  in- 
efficient, dismissal  of,  17;  prepon- 
derance of  female,  17;  training, 
57,  106;  method  of  selecting  in 
Munich,  107,  108. 

"Technical,"  definition  of,  10. 

Textbooks,  114. 

Textile  Workers'  Union  of  America, 
28. 


INDEX 


205 


Time  and  material  in  the  manual 
training  room,  68. 

Trade  schools,  inspection  of,  56; 
American  and  German  concep- 
tion of,  178,  179. 

Trade,  should  be  apprentice's  own 
choice,  141;  stealing  "a,  137, 
138. 

Trades,  inquiry  into  conditions  of, 
153,  154;  in  which  apprenticeship 
cannot  be  established,  138. 

Training  to  be  given  by  the  shop, 
34. 

Union  membership  does  not  imply 
expert  craftsmanship,  128. 

United  Typothetse  of  America, 
147. 

Unskilled  worker,  the,  89. 


Vocational  and  cultural  subjects,  19, 
21. 

Vocational  Bureau  bulletins,  159. 

Vocational  guidance,  149;  national 
conference  on,  154;  present  con- 
dition of  movement  for,  161. 

Waste,  elimination  of,  7. 
Wasted  years,  the,  19. 
Williamson  School  of  Trades,  84. 
Wisconsin,  apprenticeship    law   in 

144. 

Worcester,  Marquis  of,  3. 
Work  out  of  school,  52. 
Workmen,    disinclined    to    attend 

classes,  100. 
Writing  taught  industrially,  48. 

Yarranton,  Andrew,  3. 


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